“We could really use your help, and this is supposed to be your fight,” Stefan said.
Joshua glanced up at the dark sun, then back at us.
“Come on, no fucking excuses,” I said. “This is your fight. This is your father’s fucking adversary and he’s trying to destroy the world. Fight with us.”
“I don’t know how to fight.” He didn’t look like a demigod. He looked like a scared kid.
“Then use your magical Jesus powers to protect us while we fight. Be our shield,” I said, my hand tight on the handle of Animus.
“We need your help,” Emily said.
“I… I have to ask my father.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake.”
He went inside and I refrained from beating my head against the wall.
“I hope this doesn’t take long,” Stefan said. “Do you know how long we have?” he asked me.
I shook my head. “The prophecy, either version, isn’t specific about timing. We might have days or months or years before the world is destroyed, but the damage starts here and now. We have a few hours at most before the shit really hits the fan. Earthquakes, floods, fires, volcanoes erupting… and all that means people dying. So the sooner we stop the devil, the better.” And I didn’t know how we were going to do that, or even where he was right now. Doomed, doomed, we were all doomed… I tried to push back the panic threatening to overwhelm me.
You can do this, Alex, Mew-Mew told me. The sword is powerful enough to fight your father, and you were able to hurt him without it. And you’ll have your friends with you. That was part of the problem too. Having them beside me to fight Sköll and Fenrir was one thing, but this was different. As dangerous as those two fights had been, this one seemed so much bigger. I was worried for them. They were just kids, we all were, but this shouldn’t involve them. This was my fight and I was tempted to tell them to go home where they’d be safe. As terrifying as the idea of facing Satan alone was, the idea of them dying was even worse. I sat down on the front steps. Mew-Mew hopped into my lap and I pet him as troubled thoughts swirled in my head.
“If this takes too long, we’ll have to go without him,” Stefan said.
“I know,” I said. Stefan was obviously with me, and Emily and Colin had fought before. They’d do it again. I looked at Elliot. “What about you, Ferdinand? Will you fight with us?”
His face was as pale as it had ever been, but he nodded. “Sometimes you…,” he said and swallowed, “have to fight.”
I smiled, even though I was sick to my stomach. “That’s the spirit.”
I shifted to look at the front door. Would Jehovah tell Joshua not to help us, even though it meant the end of the world? I wouldn’t put it past him. Jehovah is a jerk. Plus, according to Revelation, he seemed pretty gleeful about the end of the world. Maybe he wanted this to happen.
We waited for a few minutes, then Joshua came out. “He’s not happy about me going with you,” he said, looking straight at me. Joshua sighed. “But he says all this isn’t supposed to happen now, it’s not part of the plan, so we have to stop the devil.”
See? Both the prophecies were wrong, which meant that our actions determine the future, not some destined sequence of events. Satan was using his free will, choosing to speed up his attempt to destroy the world.
“So you’re going to help us?” Stefan asked.
Joshua nodded, his face pale. “I have to fight.”
I could argue the “have to” part, but I wanted him with us, so I didn’t. “What about your dad? Is he going to get off his ass and help us?”
Some of the color returned to Joshua’s face. Whoops, I’d pissed him off. “God is going to take us to where the devil is. All of us,” he added, cutting off the question I was about to ask. Then he told us where the devil was and I told him to repeat it. I hadn’t heard him wrong.
We were going to fight Satan—on the moon.
***
I left Mew-Mew at Joshua’s house and remembered to leave my backpack behind too. Joshua warned us the devil wasn’t alone, he had some of the other demons with him, so not only would we have to fight my father, who was stronger than any of us, we’d also be outnumbered. The day was looking better and better. Just as he’d said, Jehovah teleported us and it was a lot like when Stefan took us places. In that second between places I wondered if Jehovah might just nuke me instead. He’d made it clear he didn’t like me and didn’t trust me, so maybe he’d take the chance to smite me and be done with it. But no. I ended up with the others on a rocky, blood-red landscape.
I sorta forgot to ask a few important questions like would we be able to breathe up here. I took an experimental breath and it seemed like regular air. I took a step, too, testing the gravity, and it felt just like Earth gravity. So we weren’t on the literal moon, but a version of it in the spirit world. I didn’t have any time for more observation because Satan and his demons were right there.
“Shit!” I pulled Animus from her sheath and she practically sang. Fighting was what she was made for and she was eager to fulfill her duty. Emily had her shield, which would at least keep her safe. Stefan had his sword. Joshua and the others had blessed crosses that would burn demon flesh. I trusted they would at least provide some protection because even being near them made me uncomfortable. Everyone except me had also been blessed by Joshua to boost their powers and make them more effective against demons. Joshua’s dad said he wasn’t allowed to bless me, so that meant I was on my own. Whatever, I was used to it.
Satan and the other demons sent up a chorus of growls and unpleasant noises. “What the fuck are you doing here, you fucking failure?” my dear sweet father asked me.
“We’re gonna stop you.” Facing down not just him but at least a dozen demons was terrifying, but I had my new sword and I had my friends. We’d saved the world twice. It didn’t matter that the odds were stacked even more against us. We could do this.
He laughed, just like a stereotypical villain. “I didn’t know we’d have entertainment delivered to us. I’ve left your friends alone until now, but this time I’m going to kill them and I’m going to let you watch.” He pointed his finger and the demons rushed at us.
Elliot and Emily screamed. I took two quick steps forward to stand beside Joshua and Stefan came up on his other side. Joshua had a glow around him, and Stefan had a fainter version of the same glow around him. Joshua’s holy protection, of which I’d gotten jack shit. The first few demons reached us. Joshua held out the six-inch-tall cross he’d taken from his house and thrust it out at the demon. The demon pulled up short and I missed what happened next because I had a demon of my own to worry about.
I stabbed at him and the demon made no attempt to avoid my sword. He must’ve thought it wouldn’t hurt him. He was wrong. Animus sank into his stomach and the demon howled. I twisted the sword and pulled it out, taking blood and a bit of demon guts with it. Animus had her first taste of black demon blood and she liked it.
I slashed at the demon and he danced back, nimble for a guy with a hole in his stomach. He pressed one hand to the hole and lashed out with the long claws on his other hand. I caught them on Animus, deflecting his blow. He snarled and threw a fireball at me. I brought up Animus to block and she took it without damage, actually seeming to absorb the fire.
He slashed at me a few more times, black blood seeping between the fingers pressed against his wound. I parried his blows, the claws making weird clicks against the metal of my sword. I used my power to create a sharp dagger of ice and hurled it at him. The ice dagger went straight into his eye. He screamed and fell and then poof, he was gone. Probably teleported back to Hell. I was disappointed I hadn’t been able to kill him, but at least he was out of the picture. One down, now how many more to go?
I glanced around to check on my friends. Joshua and Emily were alright. Stefan looked fine, fighting a demon and with black blood on his sword, so he’d done some damage. Elliot was sticking close to Joshua and he had some blood on his shirt, re
d blood. I hoped the wound wasn’t too bad. Colin held his large cross out in front of him, keeping three demons at bay. They were all busy, and it looked like they were going to be busy for a while.
I looked up at my father, who was just standing there, watching everything. He looked so fucking smug, like he knew he was going to win. Rage boiled in me. I glanced back at my friends, struggling against demons. They might die here, fighting to save the world, and Satan would just laugh about it. I looked back at him and I knew what I had to do. I was the strongest of all of us, except Stefan, and no one knew Satan like I did. Joshua might be able to stand against him, but he was no fighter, and he hadn’t come into his full power. Yes, neither had I, but I was still the best qualified out of all of us.
To be honest, I was being selfish. If the devil was going to be defeated, I wanted to be the one to do it.
I ran at him, the sharp tip of Animus pointed straight at him. He glanced almost casually at me and easily moved out of the way. I ran past him and skidded to a stop in the rocky dirt. I spun around just in time to meet his attack, his claws like small, sharp sickles. One swipe and I wouldn’t have a head anymore. Animus sparked against his claws, deflecting the blow. He laughed and came at me again. I parried two more attacks.
“You don’t ever learn, do you, Alex?” He smiled with sharp teeth. He was in his demon form: red skin, big curled horns, just what you’d expect Satan to look like while he was in the middle of trying to destroy the world. “You don’t stand a chance against me, not even with that new toy of yours.”
I tried to prove him wrong, but everything I tried—stabbing, slashing, feinting—he just blocked with his claws or a flare of his power. Heat shimmered around me, but even when I got close it didn’t hurt him. On the plus side, the heat surrounding him didn’t hurt me either. The fireballs he threw were another matter. I didn’t want to stand there and test if they’d hurt me or not. I dodged them or blocked them with Animus. She seemed to be able to take anything he could throw and I sure the fuck needed that advantage. I threw ice at him in various forms, but they all either melted or he knocked them aside. He knocked aside my fireballs just as easily, like I was tossing Nerf balls at him. Ice didn’t work, fire didn’t work, but I knew something that had worked.
I rushed him, slashing with Animus. He blocked it as easily as he had every other attack, and with my free hand I swung at his face. I hit him, and as I did, I pushed as much power into the blow as I could. My fist connected with his jaw bone and the punch didn’t just leave a mark on him, this time it knocked his head aside. My right hand, my weaker hand, had been enough to snap his head a few inches to the right. He immediately turned back, his eyes full of anger.
I tried to move but he was too fast. Satan grabbed me around the neck. I thought he was going to choke me, but he threw me as he had in the basement. There was no wall to stop me this time. I flew probably half a football field and landed, skidding through the sharp rocks. I checked to see if I still had my sword. Animus was still clutched in my hand. I stumbled to my feet. Satan came after me, all leisurely like he was on a fucking Sunday stroll. I tried to search all those jumbled images I’d seen in Baldur’s gift, but I couldn’t focus. There was something I did know how to do, a power I’d had since I was two years old. I glanced around and saw a huge rock sitting at the top of a pile. I’d moved cars before when I was angry enough. This was about the same size, although it was probably heavier. It didn’t matter, I could move it.
I pointed my hand and picked it up with my power. There was some resistance, but I reached for more power and hurled the rock at Satan. Without stopping or even turning his head, he lifted his hand and stopped it. The rock dropped back to the ground less than a foot away from him.
“I have those powers too, you know. Where do you think you got them from?”
I growled in frustration and picked up the rock again and threw it at him again. He had less time to react, but he still stopped it just before it hit him. “You are so stubborn. I admire that, but—”
I threw it again, and this time it slammed into him, knocking him to the ground and landing on top of him. “Third time’s the charm,” I said, a thrill rushing through me. I knew he wasn’t down for the count, far from it, but fuck, I’d hurt him. My shoulders started itching, almost burning. The sand must have gotten under my shirt.
The rock shattered into pieces, and I threw my arms up to protect my face. A few pieces hit me, but they left no more than small scrapes and bruises. My father stood, covered in blood and red dust and looking as pissed as I’d ever seen him.
“Do you think this is a game, Alex?” He brushed dust from what had once been a nice suit but was now a torn and dirty mess. “Do you know why I’m destroying the world now, instead of waiting for you to take over it first? Because you’re a failure. I kept thinking you’d come around, but it’s clear you aren’t going to be of any use to me. I always held back because I thought I needed you. I don’t need you, Alex.” He flicked a hand at me and then I was suddenly inches from him, fire surrounding me. “I would never have fucked your mother if I knew what a waste would come of it.”
I brought my sword up at the same time he brought his razor-sharp claws down. Sparks flew. With his other hand he punched me in the side of the head. Pain flared and stars danced in front of my eyes. It took all my focus to stay conscious and I ended up on the ground, fighting off the blackness that wanted to claim me. Satan kicked me, hard enough to send me flying through the air. I landed hard, but still I kept hold of Animus. I really didn’t want to let her go. I sucked in dusty air and even through the struggle to get my breath back, fighting to keep from blacking out, and the pain throbbing in my head and gut, I still felt that itching at my shoulders. And on my forehead too.
I tried to get to my feet and only managed to make it to my knees, coughing. I saw Satan’s foot coming at me before I knew he was there. I brought Animus up and tried to make an angry growl but all I ended up doing was coughing so hard I started to retch. Animus did her job, not just blocking his foot but cutting into it. His blood hissed as it touched my sword and he drew back with a sound that was more angry than pained.
“Fuck you!” I said between coughs. I made it back to my feet. My head cleared a little and I finally got a breath down without coughing. A small trickle of black blood dripped off the edge of Animus. She knew the taste of his blood now, and she was pleased. I charged him and we went claws against sword again, sparks flying when they connected. I didn’t care about anything but hurting him as much as possible. I was hardly even afraid anymore. Everything was rage, and instead of getting winded or tired, I kept getting stronger. More and more he was barely able to deflect my blows and Animus grazed him a few times.
The itching, burning sensation in my shoulders reached a peak and something burst out of my back. It didn’t hurt, it actually felt like a relief, but it was distracting as hell. I was all what the fuck? and my next attack went wide. Satan’s claws sliced into my arm. I cried out and focused on getting the fuck away and then bam! I was fifty feet away. Go-go teleportation power. Blood ran from two deep cuts on my arm—red blood, human blood. It hurt too much to keep a grip on my sword, so I switched it to the other hand. As I did, something moved out of the corner of my eye, something behind me.
I looked over my shoulder, expecting an attack, but I saw something I definitely wasn’t expecting: wings. I shifted a little to make sure and yes, they were my wings. I had fucking wings. I got a bright flash of memory from Baldur’s gift. Yes, I’d had wings in that glimpse of my future power. Wings and horns, like a proper demon. That would explain why my forehead was itching too.
I tried to flap my wings but I couldn’t get them to cooperate, and I had a much bigger problem to worry about. That problem was Satan making a giant wire-fu leap and landing five feet in front of me. I attacked with Animus, but I had just a little less control with my right hand and he easily smacked my sword aside, almost knocking it right out of my hand. Bef
ore I could react, he caught my sword arm and squeezed hard. I screamed and clawed at him with my other hand, my much smaller claws cutting into his flesh, but it didn’t seem to faze him.
“Ah, you’re coming into your full power. You could have been magnificent, my dear little boy.” Then he used his free hand and grabbed hold of one of my wings. He yanked hard and white-hot pain flared. I heard and felt my wing snap, and it kept on snapping, my scream rising and rising as the world became nothing but pain.
He fucking pulled my wing off. He showed it to me and laughed before tossing it away. My legs gave out and the only thing keeping me up was Satan’s grip on my arm. “I was going to kill you, but I think I’ll keep you around. I want you to see the world end.” He squeezed tighter and tighter and I found I still had enough scream left in me. The sound of my arm snapping wasn’t as loud as my wing had been, but it hurt worse. Then he flung me away and another flare of pain went through me as I hit the rocky ground.
“Alex!” Elliot screamed. My friends. I’d forgotten all about them. Some fucking friend I am. I forced my head up just in time to see Satan blur forward and grab Elliot around the neck. I tried to cry out but could only make a weak noise.
“Let him go!” Joshua ran forward, the others behind him.
“Stop right there.” Satan held Elliot out, the boy struggling and kicking uselessly.
“Let him go,” Joshua repeated.
“I might consider it, if all of you leave. This has been fun, but I have better things to do.”
“If we leave, you’ll destroy the world,” Stefan said.
“If you don’t, I’ll snap his little neck.” He shook Elliot for emphasis.
Picking on the weakest of us. What a fucking asshole. The pain faded a little as burning rage filled me. I shifted, thinking about getting up. My broken arm and the spot where my wing had been torn off became the band leaders of a jaunty tune called “Moving is a Bad Fucking Idea.” That just made me angrier. Here I was again, lying on the ground and not able to stand up to my father.
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