REVENANT (Descendants Saga)

by James Somers

  Hageddon stood up. “I respect Black more than either of you, but I will cast my lot with Lucifer. He is the most powerful among us. And given that you seek to rebel, he will favor me the more for my faithfulness.”

  Southresh clenched his teeth in anger. “So be it, brother,” he spat. “I had not held much hope that you would be reasonable. Enjoy your rewards while you can.”

  He left as he had come, in a rush of fire and smoke. Only, this time, the smoke filled the cathedral dome with sulfurous fumes. Vampires choked upon the fumes. Hageddon did not. No one could see what was happening.

  Charlotte knew this might be her only opportunity to stop Hageddon. She resorted to the back of his throne, drawing both of her spelled fighting knives given to her by the elves. Hageddon was still standing before his throne at that moment. She could strike him down before the sulfur smoke cleared and be gone before anyone else saw what she had done.

  Tom watched and waited outside the cathedral. He did not like the situation they were in. For Charlotte to be so near to Hageddon was eating at him. Already, her father had been killed. Tom had been surprised to see Tiberius’s body taken out by the elders who had escorted him inside. Charlotte had not been brought out with him, so he assumed she must still be alive inside somewhere.

  That had been days ago. In the meantime, Tom had been scouting the city, maintaining his disguise as a vampire. So far, he had encountered no problems with this. But still, there was the matter of Charlotte. He could not leave her to whatever fate awaited her in Hageddon’s care. How long would he stay in Saint Petersburg? Surely, he would tire of it and take his army out to conquer neighboring territories. If for nothing else, their food supply would become exhausted.

  For now, Tom remained perched upon a building roof across the square, watching and waiting. A hand touched him upon the shoulder, causing him to jump. He looked around but saw no one.

  “Don’t be alarmed,” a voice whispered.

  “Oliver?”

  “Your father teleported me here, using your blood bond,” he said.

  “Why are you invisible?”

  “You’re better at believable disguises than I am,” Oliver said. “I thought this would be better. I had hoped that Brody might have come to you. He’s missing, at the moment.”

  “He hasn’t been here,” Tom replied. “However, Hageddon apparently killed Tiberius when he went before him in that cathedral over there. His body was brought out days ago.”

  “Where is Charlotte?”

  “She went in with Tiberius, but she hasn’t returned yet,” Tom said. “I’m worried something will happen to her. What should I do? She means to strike him down when she gets the opportunity.”

  “That won’t do any good without the right weapon,” Oliver said. “She’ll only enrage him and get herself killed.”

  “I was afraid of that,” Tom groaned.

  “However, if you can get this to her,” Oliver said. His wolf’s head cane materialized in Oliver’s invisible hand. The cane became a silver sword. “Give her Malak-esh, Angel Fire, and she can separate the demon from his host.”

  Tom took the sword from invisible Oliver and hid the weapon beneath his long coat. “What about Brody?” he asked.

  “Apparently, there was a misstatement on Sophia’s part,” Oliver said. “As Queen, she believed she would be forced to marry a Lycan instead of Brody.”

  “Ouch,” Tom said. “I can imagine how well that went over.”

  “Yes,” Oliver confirmed wearily. “I assumed he would have no way to locate Grayson Stone, so I thought I would see you first to know if he may have come here instead.”

  “It’s not much better here,” Tom said. “But I wish he had come here rather than going off by himself.”

  “I shall do what I can to locate him,” Oliver said. “In the meantime, I can have your father send you reinforcements, if you require.”

  “I think this should be kept covert, for now,” Tom said. “Anything more might endanger Charlotte.”

  “Of course, you’re right,” Oliver said. “I’m leaving, Tom. I pray the Lord protects you.”

  The same portal which had delivered him to Tom’s location, pulled him away again. Tom never saw him. In fact, he wasn’t sure of his departure. Something else was occurring on the spiritual plane. Tom could sense another very powerful entity coming.

  The building beneath him quivered as the mortal and spiritual planes were forced together violently. Power, visible only to certain Descendants, constricted upon the city like a shockwave in reverse. It focused upon the cathedral. At the moment of convergence, Tom saw a flash of light through the windows of the dome.

  “Charlotte!” he said.

  This much power could only mean that another angel had arrived in the cathedral dome. He knew better than to think otherwise. She might be killed. What if a battle was about to take place? Perhaps, Lucifer himself had come. He might recognize her when Hageddon had not.

  Tom leaped from the top of the building two stories to the ground. He held Oliver’s sword by the hilt beneath his coat, racing toward the cathedral. He passed thousands of vampires on his way. Some noticed him and wondered. Most paid him no heed. They were too busy reveling in their new found power, drunk upon the blood of their victims. All he could think of was getting to her in time.

  Charlotte brought her blades down upon Hageddon’s back. Faster than she could believe, he whirled around on her, knocking the weapons away before they penetrated the flesh of his Romanov host. His hand slammed immediately into her throat, lifting her from the floor in an iron grip.

  “A traitor, after all,” Hageddon said, squeezing tighter.

  Charlotte tried to fight him, beating upon his arm—clawing at him—anything she could do. It was all in vain. Beating against a bar of iron would have been just as productive.

  Hageddon’s laughter at her efforts resounded in the cathedral. The smoke from Southresh’s departure was only now beginning to dissipate. Charlotte saw Tom leaping through the air behind Hageddon. A fraction of a second later, Oliver’s mercurial sword punched through Hageddon’s back and out his chest.

  He dropped Charlotte to the ground. His body shook with spasms as light from the sword poured from his mouth and nose and eyes. He collapsed to his knees. The cathedral was shaken again as Hageddon was forced out of his host.

  For the briefest moment, his enraged face was visible in the light from Malak-esh. Then it faded as Hageddon passed from the mortal plane on his way back to consignment in Tartarus. Romanov’s impaled body fell sideways to the floor and did not move.

  Tom wasted no time. He retrieved Malak-esh from Romanov’s corpse and scooped up Charlotte from the floor. She stood with his aid, while he waved the sword around them, warning the vampires in the cathedral to keep their distance.

  Charlotte clutched her throat, gasping for air. Hageddon’s finger marks were easily visible as bruises running horizontally across her throat. She still couldn’t speak.

  Tom conjured a portal envelope around them. The vampires came near, threatening, but not within striking distance of Oliver’s sword. Tom and Charlotte backed into the portal and were instantly swept away from the cathedral, Russia and the children of Hageddon.

  Wounded

  Lucifer’s portal had only managed to get him and Lux outside into their carriage—a fact that wasn’t lost on her.

  “We can’t remain here,” she said.

  “Unfortunately, I can’t remove us to any place further away at the moment,” Grayson said. “All of my father’s energies have to be focused on keeping me alive. The bullet has passed through my heart and aorta.”

  He was slumped in the seat with blood on his lips. Lux attempted to staunch the bleeding, but he waved her away.

  “That’s not the problem right now,” he said. “Keeping blood flow going with a wounded heart and vessels is almost too much. Speak to the horses, quickly.”

  Lux nodded, exiting the carriage which had been parke
d in a lot outside of the White House. The team of stallions had been left to themselves. They were obedient animals and required no driver.

  “Get us away as quickly as possible,” she said to them, pushing her will upon them as she would a person. “Take us to the steamer ship.”

  The horses knew exactly where to go. They were the same team that Grayson had brought with him from England with his personal carriage. He had the money and the means, so he had taken servants, clothing, food stores, wine, etc, with him on board his private steamer ship.

  Lux started back for the door of the carriage.

  “There’s the woman!” she heard a man shout.

  She looked back toward the White House to find armed men coming toward them. She leaped into the carriage and shut the door. The horses took their cue and launched away down the drive toward the road.

  Gunshots were fired as the men pursued on foot for a moment. They gave up quickly, but then commandeered a carriage of their own in order to keep up their pursuit. Several men with rifles mounted horses and gave chase also.

  Inside the carriage, Lux and Grayson were jostled all over the cab. The horses were tearing through the streets at a breakneck pace, charging hard toward their destination. There was no use trying to stop them now.

  Grayson held the bloody wound on his chest. His eyes were closed. He was focused entirely on his wounds. If he died, Lux presumed Lucifer would be cast out. More importantly, all of his work with Grayson in the world would be undone. Although, as far as Lux could tell, with the President’s men shooting at them through the streets, his work was already quickly unraveling.

  Shots continued to sound behind them. Bullets pounded into the carriage. Holes popped through the walls, and Lux wondered each time if the next would end her life.

  She was an assassin, not some masked bandit. While she was accustomed to a certain measure of danger, she normally did not engage in this sort of thing. Espionage? Fine. Quiet killings with no trace of evidence? No problem. Racing through the streets with gunmen blowing holes in your carriage every few seconds and seemingly no escape in sight? Not good.

  Lux was frightened and not many things frightened her. However, seeing Lucifer reduced to a nursemaid within Grayson’s barely functioning body had rattled her confidence in this whole scheme. Not to mention, their team of horses was running wild, threatening to overturn their coach at any moment. Another volley punched more holes through the wall just above their heads.

  “You have to do something, Grayson!” she cried.

  He sat up in his seat. A bullet passed through the pad where his head had just been. Grayson gripped the window edges and bowed his head. Within moments the sound of gunfire ended and their pursuers stopped behind them in the street.

  Grayson slumped back into the seat again, looking very pale now. His breathing was still labored. “We should be fine now,” he said.

  “What did you do?” Lux asked.

  “Made the carriage invisible,” he answered.

  His meditative vigil resumed as his eyes closed again. Lux could only sit there in the seat opposite and watch. It seemed that Lucifer would manage to keep him alive through this fiasco. What changes would be made to his plans, however, remained to be seen.

  Movements

  Tom and Charlotte arrived back in Tidus. He was still holding Oliver’s mercurial blade. Not a drop of Romanov’s blood had clung to the metal. Charlotte was still coughing from the vice like grip Hageddon had held her in.

  “Are you all right?” Tom asked, surveying the surrounding scene to be sure they had arrived where he wanted.

  Charlotte caught her breath, looking at him with the sword. “You saved my life, Tom,” she said.

  Tom smiled. “Well, I wasn’t sure if—”

  She interrupted him, throwing her arms around his neck to kiss him. Charlotte had thought he might respond with some sort of levity and she didn’t want the moment spoiled. Tom gladly returned her affection.

  However, their embrace was interrupted by the sounds of soldiers massing for battle. They looked out toward the walls and found exactly that. Lycan soldiers, by the hundreds, were preparing battlements against the inside of the wall. These scaffolds allowed them to mount the walls during times of war in order to fight off invaders.

  Donatus appeared behind them. “Thank goodness,” he said. “I sensed your arrival in the city. I’m glad to see you both back safely.”

  “What’s happening, Father?” Tom asked.

  “Scouts have come to us with reports of Anubis massing an army in London,” he said. “There can be little doubt where he plans to attack.”

  “How do we fare?”

  “They outnumber us,” Donatus reported. “However, Lycean made ample provisions for this sort of scenario. I have every confidence we can repel their forces. It’s only Anubis I’m concerned about.”

  Tom grinned. “We can defeat him with Oliver’s sword,” he said, lifting the weapon—except it had now reverted back to the wolf’s head cane.

  “Oliver isn’t here to transform Malak-esh,” Donatus said grimly.

  “Has Brody come back?” Charlotte asked.

  “We’ve not seen him either,” Donatus said. “Oliver has gone seeking him, trying to use the blood bond. However, he appears to be moving from place to place. Whatever is happening, we haven’t found him yet.”

  “I could try also,” Tom said. “I have a blood bond with Brody from our time together in London.”

  Donatus shook his head. “We need you here. This battle against Anubis will take all of our strength, if we’re to overcome him.”

  “The provisions you mentioned, are they the guns that Lycean had kept in store?” Charlotte asked. She had seen such things earlier when she had stolen the princess and destroyed one of Lycean’s storage buildings.

  “Winchester Repeaters,” Donatus said. “I thought Redclaw would be overcome with joy when he saw them. He’s organizing a core group of three hundred who remained in the city. As it happens these are the same whom Lycean had trained to shoot nearly four years ago in preparation for a war with your kind, Charlotte.”

  She nodded. There was no use being angry about it. War was war, and Lycean had been intelligent enough to prepare to win. Still, her thoughts went back to her people in Russia left without a leader. What would become of them now?

  Tom pointed across the river where a lone figure walked along the opposite bank. “Who is that out there?”

  Donatus smiled. “Would you believe me if I told you your uncle has agreed to help us?”

  “That’s Laish?”

  “He’s laying traps,” Donatus confirmed.

  Tom turned to Charlotte. “Maybe some rest is in order for you,” he suggested.

  She nodded, which surprised him.

  “I’ll take her back to the palace,” Tom said.

  “I’ll go with you,” Donatus answered. “We’ll have the kitchen whip something up for both of you.”

  Anubis felt through the spiritual plane as he constructed the portal that would deliver his army to the realm of the Lycans where Tidus had been founded. He sensed interference in places and worked to bypass these hurdles. A picture began to form of the layout surrounding the city.

  He discerned that certain areas had been left open to him while others were protected with powerful wards. In effect, the enemy was attempting to force him to come by a certain way. Of course, they would try to array their defenses so as to best defend the city.

  However, Anubis did not care what defenses they possessed. He intended to run right over Lycean’s daughter and those Lycans who had refused to answer his call. He was an angel. Who were they to stop him and his army of thousands?

  Anubis remembered the way the land lay. A narrow river, hardly more than a stream, separated the wood that had been left open for his portal and the city. His Lycan warriors could leap across it without any problem. That left only the wall to be breached. Anubis could knock down their wall himself, all
owing his soldiers to storm the palace and the city. This battle would be over quickly.

  Southresh passed through the dimensional barriers separating the planes. He had sensed the blood bond with the boy as he approached London on his way back to Anubis. Brody was somewhere near, giving him two choices of destination.

  There was still the matter of a host for Black to inhabit once he crossed from Tartarus into the mortal world. He smiled, thinking how perfectly ironic it would be for Black to have the boy as his vessel. He didn’t have to be willing. He just had to be available. Black could accomplish the boy’s subjugation once he indwelt him.

  Southresh made his decision. He would go to the boy first and then back to Anubis in order to complete Black’s release. As Black had mentioned, there was no complex ritual to attend to. They only had to combine their efforts and take hold on Black, helping him to extend his spirit onto the mortal plane.

  London had been his previous destination. Anubis would be taking his army into the realm of Lycans very soon. Southresh adjusted his course slightly away from the capital of Britain’s empire. Highgate would be his next stop.

  Grayson woke with a start. Lux was still seated across from him in his carriage. “How long have I been sleeping?” he asked.

  “Several hours,” she replied. “The carriage is no longer invisible, but it did work briefly. And we’ve lost our pursuers. The horses are going more gently for the sake of your wounds. How do you feel?”

  He sat up, glancing at the bullet holes punched into the walls of his carriage. “Much better,” he said. “My father is still working to repair the damage Brody has done. However, I think we can proceed with more important matters now.”

  “What can be done, now that we are being hunted as would-be assassins?”