Stones of Power- Hellstone & Maelstrom

by Jenna Grey

  She watched, incredulous, as one by one the creatures burst into flames like little fireworks, exploding with a sizzle and a pop and then turning to dust. There was a terrible smell of burning flesh in the air.

  “Stay there, Polly,” Bert said. “I don’t think this is over yet.”

  “I feel as if I’ve just fallen head first into a rerun of Arachnophobia,” Polly replied, frantically looking around to make sure nothing was running towards her.

  “Small consolation, sweetheart, but I think you’re pretty safe. Your uncle needs you alive. That spider was on your hand and could have bitten you; it didn’t.”

  “That doesn’t really make me feel much better,” Polly said.

  Bert and Finn were both scanning the room, bracing themselves for the next assault. After ten minutes none was forthcoming.

  “Maybe that’s it for now,” Finn said.

  “Perhaps. Just be very, very cautious,” Bert replied.

  Polly climbed down and tentatively tipped out the bag of fruit and vegetables, taking the iron from Finn and smashing the bag flat with it, just in case.

  “I wish that was my uncle’s head,” she said, giving it one last wallop. “I think it is over. We can still use the food, I think. They didn’t really touch it.”

  “Yeah, we can’t risk leaving you alone to go and get more, but just be careful as you unpack it,” Finn said. As if she needed to be told.

  Polly picked up the lettuce, opened the fridge door and gave a scream they could probably hear in the next village.

  The snake slid out of the vegetable tray, and down the side of the fridge, gliding towards Finn. Polly leapt back and up onto the table again. It undulated its way across the floor, unhurried, just making for Finn as if he was all it could see.

  “Black Mamba,” Bert said. “And obviously, very deadly.”

  “Oh sod this,” Finn said, his face tight with rage. “I’ve had enough.” He lashed out, as if he were throwing a ball at the creature and all Polly saw was a shower of red as it exploded, leaving bits of snake all over the floor. Another snake was already emerging from the fridge’s vegetable tray. There was no way it had been there seconds before. Somehow these creatures were manifesting themselves magically. Polly recognised this snake – a cobra. It plopped down onto the floor and made for Bert.

  “Just keep them at bay, Finn,” Bert said, “While I deal with this.”

  From every corner of the room, more snakes came; they emerged from every nook and cranny, appearing from every shadow, all heading towards Finn and Bert. There were soon dozens of them, more than dozens and they soon covered the floor, totally ignoring the spiders that still littered the place, just moving over and around them, as if they weren’t there. The floor was soon a great carpet of undulating, writhing creatures, all slithering over one another, wrapping around one another to try and get to the two men. Bert and Finn stood back to back, surrounded by the creatures. Just one bite from one lucky snake and that would be it.

  Polly knew that there was no way they could fight them all off. They were within just inches of the men’s feet, well within striking distance, and some had even lifted their heads to attack. The huge cobra had raised his head just a foot or so away from Bert, its hood fanned out and ready to strike. Polly’s heart stopped beating, and she whispered a ‘no’. Then she watched as the creature’s head exploded in a shower of blood and brains. She sagged, but her relief was short-lived, as more and more of the snakes headed towards the two men.

  “Barrier spell,” Bert said. “It will keep them at bay for a bit.”

  Whatever the spell was, it worked; the snakes and spiders pulled back, retreating to clear a space around the men’s feet, as if there was some invisible shield keeping them at bay.

  “We’re safe for now,” Bert said. “But I don’t know how long we can keep this up for. You need to get out, Polly. There’s nothing you can do to help us.”

  Polly gave him an outraged look.

  “You don’t really think I’d leave you here and run, do you?” she replied, even though every fibre of her being was telling her to run. She looked down at the carpet of writhing shapes, desperately trying to think of some plan of action that didn’t involve them all dying from snake venom.

  “Polly, whatever it is you’re thinking of doing, don’t!” Finn said.

  Polly could see that Bert was weakening; whatever spell he was using was draining him, and he wasn’t going to be able to keep it up much longer. She focused her attention on the writhing mass; they were ignoring her, all intent on getting to Finn and Bert. Perhaps they did realise that she posed no real threat to them, but it had to be far more likely that what Bert had said was true. They had been told not to touch her because her uncle needed her alive. She had to decide, because Bert and Finn’s lives depended on her making the right choice. But, really, she knew there was no real choice to make. Bert and Finn would be dead in minutes if she didn’t act now.

  She drew in a breath and braced herself.

  “They won’t touch me,” Polly said.

  And with that she climbed down from the table, right into the middle of the snakes, trying to find space between them so that she didn’t crush them under her feet.

  “Oh for fuck’s sake,” Finn yelled. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “They aren’t touching me,” Polly said. They weren’t; they slithered around her feet, totally ignoring her. She took a deep breath, holding it as she moved forwards cautiously, heading towards the knife drawer, pushing them from her feet and sliding her steps across the floor. She opened the knife drawer and saw the meat cleaver pushed to the back. It was a large, lethal-looking weapon and she could see that it was sharp enough to do the job. Polly closed her fingers over it and pulled it from the drawer, holding it to her chest.

  “Polly... they’re going to defend themselves,” Finn said. “Please just get out.”

  “No, she’s right,” Bert said, sweat beading on his brow, his shoulders sagging as more and more of his strength left him. “Let her do what she can to help. We need to take care of ourselves. I truly believe she’s safe. ”

  Polly felt the slither of snake over her foot; it curled around her legs and bared fangs, but it didn’t strike. She bent down and pulled it off, firmly but gently easing it from around her leg, forcing the terror she felt back down inside her. She’d always had a morbid fear of snakes and spiders, couldn’t even look at them in photographs without shuddering.

  She could do this; she had to do this. She brought the cleaver down on the nearest snake, a red and black striped creature that was heading straight for Bert. The metal sliced through its neck, a clean cut, severing it almost entirely. Its body wriggled frantically, the nerves still not realising it was dead, then it lay still. The other snakes completely ignored her, just slithering over their fallen comrade intent on getting to Bert and Finn.

  Polly suddenly had the overwhelming urge to turn and look behind her. On the table was a huge yellow snake, far larger than any of the others, covering almost the whole table top. It had its head raised and was looking straight at her, trapping her with its stare. Its eyes were bright gold, and Polly could see something in them that terrified her. This thing was sentient; behind those eyes was a cunning intelligence, and she could sense something ancient and malevolent there. She tossed a glance across at Bert and Finn, and they didn’t even seem to know it was there. Couldn’t they see it? It opened its mouth and hissed at her, its forked tongue striking the air. Then it turned and slid down onto the floor and made for the open door, disappearing out of sight. Polly blinked, coming back from whatever reality she’d been in and turned her attention back to the snakes. Whatever that was, whatever had happened there, this was no time to dwell on it. Time for questions later.

  Polly, lost in madness and hardly conscious of what she was doing now, dropped to her knees and began hacking at the snakes. They hissed and struck the air around her, some just inches from her face, but not one of them s
truck her. She was covered with blood and gore; it was in her hair, on her face, everywhere, but the snakes let her butcher them without even trying to defend themselves.

  All Polly could see around her was a sea of blood and snake flesh, as Finn blasted them with whatever magic he was using, and Bert maintained the barrier. She was kneeling in a sea of blood now, still totally oblivious to any danger. Polly could see that Bert was about to collapse and then it would be over; Finn wouldn’t be able to take enough of them out to keep them safe.

  But it wasn’t over, not by a long stretch. She watched, fascinated, horrified, as the snakes turned, lunging and snapping up the spiders and killing them, one by one. Then they turned on one another, striking wherever they could. Finn was still attacking them, lashing out and killing them, one after another, until all that was left was a slaughterhouse of corpses, flesh, blood and gore and every one of the creatures, snake and spider were dead.

  Finn and Bert stood in a clear spot, surrounded by a pile of flesh and blood, their legs saturated with gore. They were both completely spent, every ounce of their energy used up. Polly was covered from head to foot in ichor and every foul thing; it dripped from her hair, ran down her face and into her eyes. She looked down at her arms, and it looked as if she was wearing a pair of long red gloves, her hands entirely soaked in blood. She wasn’t quite sure what was going on, reality elusive, and she knew she was in shock. She pulled herself to her feet and looked across at Bert and Finn.

  END OF SKIPPED SECTION.

  “I think it really is over,” Bert said.

  Finn turned on Polly, furious.

  “What the hell do you think you were playing at? You didn’t know for certain that they wouldn’t attack!” Polly pulled back her shoulders and glared at him.

  “What was I supposed to do? Let you two get killed? Anyway, I knew they couldn’t hurt me because Liam told me that I was safe. He said that I’d be the last woman standing.” Finn was speechless for a moment, just standing there and glaring at her.

  “Polly, Liam isn’t infallible. He could have been wrong. If anything had happened to you...” Polly wanted to stay angry with him, but couldn’t.

  “Well, it didn’t, so let’s just be glad of the win, shall we?”

  Finn nodded, but he looked far from satisfied.

  “Polly, that was one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen in my life. I am in awe of you, and you should be as well, Finn. Why don’t you take Polly and help her get cleaned up?” Bert suggested. “I’ll start cleaning up here.”

  “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Finn asked.

  Bert waved a careless hand at them, shooing them towards the door.

  “I’m fine. You just take care of Polly.”

  Polly suddenly remembered the great yellow snake.

  “Wait. There’s something you need to hear. While all of that was going on, I saw something that was... well, I’m not sure what it was to tell you the truth. I know you and Finn didn’t see it. A great yellow snake appeared on the table, and I knew that it was more than it seemed. I think that it was a demon, or something not of this world. It was so old and so evil. I could feel the weight of aeons hanging over it, and it was cunning and smart, and it was trying to tell me something. I could feel it taunting me, laughing at me almost. What do you think it meant?”

  Bert lost himself in thought for a moment.

  “I have an idea. I think it might well have been more than a demon; I think it may have been one of the old gods.” He walked over to the table and laid his hand on it. “Oh my word, yes,” he said. “That, dear Polly was quite a visitation. If I’m not mistaken, that was Hel’s brother, Jormungand. It seems we’ve attracted the attention of some very powerful entities.”

  “That would explain the snakes,” Finn said. “Scary stuff. Are we safe here?”

  “Oh, I’ll see to it that we are,” Bert said. “Now you get off and get cleaned up.”

  “Liam picked a good time to go off gallivanting,” Polly said as they made for the door.

  “He always does,” Finn replied, looking very put out. “He always does.”

  Even after a ten-minute shower and a scrub down with disinfectant, Polly still felt contaminated; she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel clean again. It took hours to clean the kitchen thoroughly, scrubbing down every surface and filling bowl after bowl with hot water. They put the bloody remains into dustbin bags, and Finn said he would get rid of them later. How, she had no idea. Polly’s nerves were shattered; she jumped at every movement, and even a couple of shots of brandy didn’t help much. She threw her blood-soaked clothes in the washing machine and would probably have thrown them away if she wasn’t so desperately short of clothes.

  “What the hell did they hope to achieve with that?” Polly asked.

  “They’re just trying to unnerve us,” Finn said, slipping his arm around her.

  “I hope that Liam’s all right out there,” Polly replied. “He can’t use magic, and if he’s attacked, then he’s not going to be able to do anything to defend himself.”

  “Maybe you should stop worrying about Liam so much and start worrying about yourself,” Finn said through pinched lips.

  “And maybe you should start worrying about him more,” Polly snapped, turning her back on him.

  Bert headed towards the sofa and a pile of books that were waiting there.

  “I’m going to read for a bit. I don’t think I could sleep. I want to see if there is anything I could have missed before about the Torinstone. Why don’t you two go up and try to get some rest? You look as if you could do with it. You need some time alone to get yourselves together. And I think you owe Polly an apology.”

  “Sorry,” Finn said. “I’m just worried about you; that’s all.”

  Polly managed a little smile.

  “We’ve all been under so much pressure. None of us are thinking straight.”

  “Shouldn’t we all stay together, in case there’s another attack,” Finn asked.

  Bert motioned again for them to go.

  “I’ve warded the place now; I don’t think anything else will get through, besides which, your uncle only has a limited amount of power. He’s been using far too much lately. I think we’re safe for a while.” Polly wished she could be that confident.

  “Yep, come on,” Finn said, “I think we need an early night.” Polly didn’t argue.

  Polly was dozing when she felt soft lips on hers, and even though she was half asleep, she couldn’t resist kissing Finn back. Their tongues entwined, and she could taste the lingering remnants of soap on his lips from his shower, his breath fresh with toothpaste. It left a bright white taste in her mouth, her tongue tingling.

  “You’re optimistic,” she whispered. “Do you really think you’re up to it?”

  He gave a soft laugh.

  “I’ll manage. I think we both need this, don’t we? Something good to forget the bad.”

  She realised he was right. She was still jumping at shadows, afraid of every movement she caught from the corner of her eye, expecting another attack at any minute. She did need something good to try and brighten her misery.

  Finn’s hands moved down her body, following its contours, his fingers like silk over her skin. He laid kisses down her neck and shoulders, easing her up so that her breast was level with his mouth. He sucked softly, licking over her nipple with warm wet strokes, running his tongue over it. Then he moved further down her body, his mouth travelling downwards until his mouth was over the mound of her pubes.

  He gently eased her legs apart, looking up at her face the whole time to see her reaction, then he moved his face down between her legs to nuzzle. He put his hand beneath her buttocks to left her a little so that he could get to her more easily.

  There was a hot burst of breath on that most tender part of her. She let out a stuttering breath as his tongue flicked out and licked over her. He pressed his face closer, burying himself in her, his teeth began to nibble at the softness on either s
ide of her opening, gentle bites and sucks that brought a moan from her lips. Then he found that sweet spot and began to suck on it, bright bursts of almost pain that sang through her body and made her shudder. It went on for an eternity, his tongue probing further into her, just as his fingers had. His teeth tightened around her, clamping on that most tender part of her while he sucked.

  “Oh God,” she said, arching her back. He moved up to kiss her, his lips still moist with her wetness. He ate at her mouth, more urgently now, his hardness pressing against her thigh, ripe and more than ready for her.

  He gently flipped her over on her stomach, and she knelt up on all fours, spreading her legs for him. He moved up behind her and guided himself to her opening, gently rubbing the tip of his hardness over it and using his fingers to make sure that she was wet enough. As he pushed himself into her it hurt for a moment as he met resistance, but she pushed herself down onto him, working him in gradually until he suddenly broke through the barrier and was inside her. She was so tight around him that she almost pulled back again because she knew it must be hurting him. He put his hands to her hips and forced her down onto him harder, straining to get all of him into her. He let out a small moan as he reached the limit of her and began to move against her, carefully, cautiously, aware that he might be hurting her. The pain was just the right side of bearable. After a few moments, she felt him start to slide inside her, and she began to move on him gently. He was letting her dictate the pace, allowing her to find the level of movement that she could stand without it hurting. His hands closed around her hips, his fingers pressing into her flesh as she moved up and down on him. His hardness filled her completely, and she could feel a burning throb building in her body as she rubbed herself harder against him and that spot just at her opening began to burn white hot.