Blood Heavy: Ascension

by S. L. J. Shortt

  Finally, after the laughter subsided, Jerry clicked on the radio. It was frighteningly appropriate that Norman Greenbaum – Sprite In The Sky was the song that came on.

  CHAPTER 25 – BLOOD FOR BLOOD

  Wessington Springs – South Dakota

  It wasn't difficult to see that the construction yard had been closed for over fifteen years. Everything was rusted and worn out. There had been no attempt to lock off the main warehouse which had a huge half-open sliding metal door at the front. All the windows had been smashed, probably by kids and it wouldn't have been a surprise to find empty bottles or needles from where hobos and junkies had spent the night.

  There were still half dismantled bits of machinery scattered all over the outside grounds, including a broken down forklift, a metal storage container and what was left of a crane.

  The one thing that did stand out was some kind of ancient fishing trawler. It floated in the middle of a massive man made pool of water about a hundred feet away from the main warehouse. About forty feet long and equally as rusted and rotten as the rest of the place, it still looked a little abstract. It wasn't all that odd considering that this place had functioned to make parts of boats just like it but was definitely not something you'd expect to see so far away from the sea. The water around it was black and oily from years of rain, dirt and general yuck. There was even a dead bird floating in it.

  Jerry turned to see Goose looking at the boat with sadness in his eyes. His dad had brought a boat not long ago and Jerry had even helped him out on occasion in fixing it up. He felt a squeeze of guilt hit him as he remembered what Goose had had to do to keep his father safe.

  Something he wouldn't have had to do if it were for Jerry and his cursed blood.

  “Now what?” Vic asked surveying the area.

  “We wait,” Jerry said. “She'll show eventually.”

  “Alright, let's get ready,” Joe said grabbing a bag of weapons from the Boss's trunk. They had parked the car a pretty good distance from the warehouse.

  Jerry didn't care about his own body but there was no way in hell he was going to let her hurt his car.

  Ten minutes later they were all armed to the teeth and in full gear. As usual Jerry and Goose wore two Kevlar vests and several different holsters to carry all the guns and ammo they were packing. They also stashed extra weapons and grenades in different places around the yard in case they lost their weapons during the fight and needed new ones. Goose had the RPG propped up not far away from the wrecked crane and Joe left a few twelve gauges inside the cargo container.

  Jerry on the other hand, went into the warehouse and emerged about two minutes later with a small table. He set it up outside, right in the middle of open yard grounds then went back and grabbed two chairs. The others watched, looking confused when he went back to the Boss and pulled out a chess board from the back of the car.

  He set the board on the table and then lined up all the pieces in their starting positions. He took the white pieces, leaving her with the black. Once it was done, he just took a seat and lit up a cigarette.

  He was just going to sit there and wait for her.

  The others stood there for a few moments wondering if they should do or say anything but it because pretty clear that they didn't need to. Instead they split up and found separate places to hide and watch.

  There was no grand strategy or master plan. Not in a fight like this. Jerry would simply wait for her, then he'd make his move, then it would begin. All they had to do was be ready.

  As he sat there, watching the clouds roll over and disappear into the horizon, Jerry replayed everything that had happened since meeting Aria. That moment in the restaurant when he'd first laid eyes on the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. All those little teasing, flirtatious gestures. All the hidden meanings behind her words.

  He had managed to figure Pope out in about fifteen minutes flat but she was a mystery. His instinct was telling him that everything he'd seen, everything about her was just the tip of the iceberg. There was something going on behind the scenes that she didn't want him to see.

  He just couldn't understand what it was.

  By the time he dropped his thirteenth cigarette butt on the ground, the sun had moved from one side of the sky to the other. He had been there for hours and now the light was beginning to fade.

  For some reason he remembered back to the night that he and Goose went to Sarah's party. The way they were, the things they talked about, the way they acted before any of this happened. It had only been a few months but it felt like a lifetime ago.

  He was about to reach into his pocket of his cigarette pack when one of the pawns on the chess board suddenly moved forwards. He heard a massive rush of wind from behind him followed by a heavy thump...then foot steps moving towards him.

  “You don't mind me making the first move, do you Jerry?”

  Aria walked past him to the other side of the table and spun the seat around so that she could sit down. Her black wings gave off a metallic shine as the setting sunlight bounced off them.

  A gut punch hit Jerry as he saw her. She was wearing tight black trousers and a lacy white low cut top that showed off her midriff and the tattoos that were there. Her crimson hair was in perfect long wavy strands and she seemed to be wearing mascara and lipstick. She'd actually dressed herself up for this and good God did she look incredible.

  Jerry pummeled his own hormones back into submission. Wick had warned him her looks were a dangerous distraction. “That is your style,” he shrugged acting indifferent.

  “Yes it is,” she said with a glowing smile.

  Jerry moved his pawn forward. The game was on.

  “You look exhausted,” she commented, moving another piece forward.

  “It's been a long day,” Jerry said making his move without hesitation.

  “But the night it still young,” she said taking his pawn. Jerry moved his knight causing her to grin. “Oh, starting to catch on are we?” She had just told him what move to make and just wanted to see if he could pick up on it. He had and now he was starting to understand what she'd been hiding from him. She moved her bishop forward.

  “You choose your words very carefully,” Jerry stated.

  “Maybe I just don't like being misunderstood,” she shrugged as he took one of her pawns.

  “Or maybe you just like showing off.”

  “If you're about to say 'pride goeth before the fall' then don't bother. I've heard it so many times.”

  “Even you have to admit, your ego is a liability,” he said.

  “I spent three thousand years in hell, which down there is more like three million. I endured torture so terrible that it goes beyond a humans ability to imagine and yet here I am,” she gestured to herself. Not only was she out of hell, she was more powerful and more beautiful than anything on earth. “I've earned my ego Jerry.”

  “So, what? You were human back when clay pots and agriculture where popular. You didn't end up in the cage by accident,” he said moving another piece.

  “In my defense we didn't know about heaven and hell back then. Nobody did,” she shrugged and took his rook. “What was right and what was wrong didn't really enter into it. We were praying to the moon and the stars and funny looking trees back then. And if you didn't like some one, well, you bashed their heads in with a rock and that was that. That was about as far as justice went.”

  “I thought you couldn't remember?”

  “I can't. But ever since I met you, little bits and pieces have starting coming back. Isn't that weird?”

  “What's that supposed to mean?” Jerry asked moving his bishop forward again. “Check.”

  She quickly moved her king away, taking one of his pawns in the process. “Obviously it means you effect me on a deep, subconscious, emotional level and I do the same to you...as only enemies or lovers can.”

  “I wouldn't put any money on the latter,” Jerry growled and moved his queen forward.

  “Why not?”r />
  “Because you're a soulless bitch.”

  “If I were soulless, we wouldn't be sitting here,” she said as the moves continued.

  “If there was any good inside you, we wouldn't be sitting here,” he snapped.

  “Touche,” she grinned. “Check.”

  Her queen was poised to take his king. The only chance he had was to move one of his pawns in the way to block her attack. But she wouldn't make that move. It would expose her queen to his knight. Instead she moved her king and took his other rook.

  “I hope your friends are enjoying the game,” she said pleasantly. “But I don't think they can see from where they are.” Jerry sighed inwardly. Of course she knew they were there. “Stop acting like field mice boys, come on out.”

  Slowly Joe, Goose and Vic emerged from their hiding places and took position behind Jerry. They made no attempt to conceal their weapons as Aria's wings unfolded slightly, almost as if she were stretching.

  “Mmm,” Aria licked her lips as she looked from one to the other. “The surly guardian, the loyal best friend and the Irish accent...aren't I a lucky girl.”

  Jerry moved his king. It was no longer in danger from her queen but couldn't take it either.

  “It looks like the king and queen have an audience for their fight,” she said looking excited. “As well they should.”

  “You may be a queen Aria but I'm not a king. I'm definitely not your king,” he warned, staring hard into her eyes.

  “Ahh, don't say that old fruit,” she soothed, moving her queen back into position to take his king. “If you're not my king, then what are you?”

  “Well, like you said,” he made his move, “the knight is young.”

  She looked down to see that her king was now in check from his knight. She could use her queen to take it but that would leave it exposed to his other knight. Losing her king would mean losing the game but losing her queen would prove that Jerry was right. He didn't know which one she'd part with.

  For a moment, she just stared at him, a small but powerful smile growing on her lips. Finally she reached forward and moved her king right into the firing line.

  “Checkmate,” she admitted easily. But the look in her eyes was saying that Jerry hadn't won. Her queen was still in perfect position to take his king, just as she wanted. If there was one more move in the game, she would have taken it. “Well played.”

  She flicked her fingers and all the pieces reset themselves.

  “Shall we play again?”

  “I was thinking of a different kind of game,” Jerry said darkly.

  “Let me guess...a full contact sport?”

  “Winner takes all,” he nodded.

  “I intend to,” she winked.

  Jerry reached inside his pocket, not for cigarettes but for something else. He extracted a small but thick rectangular envelope that was about the size of a fifty dollar bill. He placed it on the table in front of Aria. She took one look at it a seemed almost physically disgusted.

  “You've got to be joking,” she hissed. “You want to bribe me?!”

  “It's not a bribe.”

  “No? Then what is it?” she asked.

  “It's what you wanted,” Jerry shrugged. She waited for him to elaborate. “It's me!”

  Jerry suddenly slammed his fist down on the end of the envelope causing the other side to rip open and explode like a ketchup packet. Only it wasn't tomato sauce that came spraying out, it was his blood.

  It covered her body, arms and face and for a second she actually seemed surprised.

  Then she screamed.

  Aria jumped back from the table, knocking over her chair as his blood dissolved her skin. That awful smell and intense hissing was everywhere as she jolted about in pain, trying to get his blood off her. Jerry didn't give her the chance.

  He pulled a teaser from his belt and fired the electrodes straight at her chest. They connected with her burning flesh and he pulled the shock trigger. The voltage collided with his blood and started the same chain reaction that had killed Selena.

  BOOM!

  An explosion went off right in front of her that send Jerry flying backwards but Aria was hit with a much greater force. She was blasted backwards about thirty feet before hitting the ground in a messy tumble. Her wings fell to the ground, covering most of her body and twitching slightly but Aria herself wasn't moving.

  Joe, Goose and Jerry stood ready with weapons aimed at her while Vic produced a ball of fire in one hands and an icy coil of air and water in the other.

  For a tiny second, as the explosions echo dissipated and silence covered the construction yard, Jerry dared to believe that he might have just killed her. It was a stupid hope.

  Slowly, a stifled groan came from beneath her wings as Aria started to heave herself up from the ground. When her face was finally visible, Jerry cringed.

  Half her head was missing. Her flawless skin and unparalleled good looks had been replaced by a mangled, scorched palette of exposed bone and muscle. The hair on the left side of her head had disintegrated and a gelatinous piece of pulp was sitting in her eye socket. It was a horrifying sight to behold but not nearly as frightening as what happened next.

  Weaves of perfect blood red hair sprouted from her head, skin and muscle began knitting themselves back together and bones started to reform. She was healing way faster than they ever thought possible. Within seconds, she had a new eye, then her lips and jaw were repaired and soon her nose was back.

  They didn't wait for the rest.

  “FIRE!” Joe yelled and bullets erupted.

  Aria's wings shot in front of her wrapping her in a shield. The rounds bounced straight off, not even leaving a scratch. Vic slammed a fireball into her left side that barely made her move then sent a jet of ice that had the same effect as the gunfire.

  But the fact that the bullets were touching her wings was a start. Wick had been right. His blood was interrupting her power, otherwise she just would have used telekinesis to deflect them. Then suddenly they did.

  The bullets stopped hitting her wings and just flew off in different directions. Aria's wings parted and her face was fully healed, beautiful and fierce. Her power was returning. Jerry's blood was working but didn't have quite the kick that they'd hoped.

  Aria reached her hand out causing the broken crane to levitate into the air. A second later she flung it straight at Joe and Vic who only just ducked in time to not get splattered all over the floor. Goose continued to fire at her but the bullets stopped right in front of her. With a flick of her hand, she sent them straight back at him. They struck him in the chest and he flew backwards from the force but his doubled-up Kevlar had saved his life. The bullets never touched his body but the impact still hurt like hell.

  He winced and groaned trying to pick himself up. Still, he had provided the perfect distraction.

  Jerry came out of nowhere and slashed Aria's back open with one of his shock-machetes, coated in his blood. The wound sizzled and burned causing her to scream. She swiped at him with her wing but Jerry was ready and rolled over it. He landed feet first on the ground right next to her and dug his blade straight through her chest. With the Enochian enchantments it cut right through her rib cage and penetrated her heart but it wasn't enough to kill her. Even weakened by his blood she was still much stronger than him and as soon as the pain subsided, she grabbed hold of him and flung him off her like she was swatting a fly.

  He slammed into the side of the cargo container hard, dropping his machete in the process. Pain racked his body and he did his best to ignore it and climb to his feet just as Vic took control of the water inside the wet pool. It exploded past the ship and molded itself into a great column of liquid that shot straight at Aria.

  Jerry grabbed the machete off the ground, click the shock button on and threw it with all his strength at the pillar of water. The blade connected causing the electricity to fly through the pillar just as it hit her. She roared with fury and was blasted backwards by the im
pact. The voltage hadn't been enough to cause her any real damage but it had disorientated her for a few seconds.

  Jerry ran straight at her, unsheathing two more swords just as she regained herself. He slashed his own legs with light cuts, coating the blades with his blood as he moved. She spun and tried to hit him with her wings but he blocked them with his machetes. Her strength had been sapped but it was coming back very quickly. He slammed his blade into her stomach and she growled as it's acidic effect started. His blood ate away at her insides but it didn't stop her from yanking the sword out of her. Jerry went for another strike but she smashed him with a right hook before he could.