Hold Me If You Can

by Stephanie Rowe

  Nigel’s head suddenly felt like it was going to explode. Pure golden light raced through it, and thoughts of Mari swirled around in his head, darting in and out of his conscious and his mind. “Jesus!” He stumbled backwards, clutching his head. “No!” He whirled toward Smutty and directed all his weapons onto him.

  “Not me!” Smutty shrieked and dove behind the wardrobe. “I’ll steal your aggression, too! Stop, you silly boy!”

  Nigel’s head billowed with pain and he fell to his knees, holding his head against the invasion in his brain.

  Mari crouched beside him. “Come on, Nigel,” she begged. “Stop fighting this! I’m trying to help you, and if you just let me, everything will be okay.”

  “Losing my mind will never be okay,” he gritted out. Shit. He was losing it. He couldn’t stop the fury, couldn’t hold onto his focus. Everything was sliding out of control. “Run, Christian,” he gasped. “Get Natalie and run!”

  Christian leapt to his feet, his chain-linked body intact despite Nigel’s assault. He grabbed Pascal, flung the inert warrior over his shoulder, whipped out his sword, and hurled it at Smutty.

  The sword diverted and sank itself into the wall beside him.

  Nigel swore. Christian never missed. None of them did. “He’s in your head too. Get out!”

  “Not without you.” Christian called his sword back and raced for Nigel. “Get up, you bastard! We’re leaving!”

  “Don’t let them leave, Charlie,” Mari shouted. “Make them want to stay!”

  “Jesus.” Nigel’s head felt like it was going to explode, and he lurched to his feet. “No!”

  “Stop!” Natalie suddenly leapt to her feet. Her hair was strung out, her face was ash-gray, and her skin was tight and shiny. Her eyes were black and her teeth were pointed. “Stop hurting them!” And then Natalie flung herself toward Mari, unleashing a scream of anguish that made Nigel’s soul crack.

  “No!” He intercepted Natalie in midair. “You don’t want to be that person. Let me do it.” He wrapped Natalie against him, shutting down her struggles. “This isn’t you,” he shouted at her. “It’s the demons! You don’t want to be a killer!” He threw a knife at Mari. The blade sank deep into her heart, and she screamed. It was a living blade, and he knew it was growing strong, taking over her body almost instantly.

  Mari’s face paled, and she grabbed her chest. “Stop, you idiot! You can’t kill me!”

  But he knew she was wrong. She was dying. He could feel her soul dying. It was over. It was over. Mother of God, it was over.

  Christian had been sprinting toward the door with Pascal, but he stopped to watch Mari crumbling. “And the wicked witch of the west finally gets hit with her bucket of water. Justice reigns.”

  Nigel saw relief in his friend’s eyes. Hope for a brighter future, or any future at all. For them, and for everyone else still trapped under her reign. “It’s over, buddy—”

  Natalie screamed suddenly and lurched in Nigel’s arms.

  “What—” Then the walls came alive. Monsters began to emerge from the plaster, bronze ones with oversized teeth, black, soulless eyes, and more horns that any living creature could possibly put to use.

  “Demons!” Christian charged the nearest one, took off its head, and another head sprung up out of the neck, hissing. “Shit!”

  One of them leapt off the wall straight at Natalie. Nigel took the beast out with a single swipe. Then more appeared. And more. Dozens. All of them circled Natalie, hanging on the wall like demonic spiders. “What the hell?”

  “It’s the smut,” Mari gasped as she went down on her knees. “If you kill me, the demons come to collect payment, and since Natalie’s carrying my smut, they’ll take her instead.”

  Another beast leapt off the wall, teeth bared to reveal a bottomless throat. Screams of dying souls echoed in is belly. “Holy crap! That’s not good.” Nigel slammed his blade down its throat, and it kept coming—

  Christian bisected it, and odious sulfur smoke assaulted Nigel’s nose. Burned it like acid. The two halves each sprang into a new demon, and the walls began to shift as more and more appeared. “There’s too many,” Christian shouted. “We can’t stop them all!”

  Mari groaned and held her hand to her stomach. “Pull the blade out, warrior. Now. Save me, or Natalie will get taken by them.”

  A demon sprang from behind and tried to eat Nigel’s head. He engaged it, and then another pried Natalie out of his arms. There was a screech of victory, and then it began to drag her across the floor. Natalie fought, but she had no chance against the monsters of hell.

  “No!” Nigel raced after her, and then the demons closed ranks, shutting him out. He couldn’t see her. Could just hear her screams. He fought, he sliced, he jabbed, and there were more and more… He couldn’t get through them!

  He spun around and raced over to Mari, threw her down, and slammed his hand over her chest.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Christian raced over to him. “Don’t save her!”

  “Get off!” He backhanded a huge blade at Christian. It caught him in the chest and flung him backwards. Nigel barely registered the fact he’d taken out one of his best friends. All he could feel and think was that Natalie was being taken by demons. He had to save her. At any cost. He threw his healing energy into Mari, found the blade, and ripped it ruthlessly out of her.

  She shrieked and gasped, a gaping wound open in her chest. And still more demons came, called by Mari’s approaching death. They surrounded Natalie, who was screaming like she was being skinned alive. “Shit!” He tried to focus on healing, couldn’t think, couldn’t focus, too frazzled.

  “Nigel!” Natalie’s shriek of horror, her last plea for help.

  Nigel saw a pad and pen set carefully on a nearby table, placed there as if it had been waiting for him. He knew it probably had been set there just for him, as part of his trap, but he didn’t care. He raced across the room and snatched it up. His fingers flew across the page as he sprinted back to Mari, and the image was complete by the time he crouched beside her. He didn’t even know what he’d drawn. Didn’t care. But his mind was clear and focused, at least enough to heal, and he flung healing light ruthlessly into Mari’s body. The white light glowed, the blood flow slowed, her chest began to knit together. He threw every last bit that he had into him, and then there was a flash of light, and the demons vanished.

  “Nigel!” Natalie’s upper body was halfway through the wall. Her feet were out of sight, sucked partway into hell. She had dug her claws (claws!) into the floor and there were drag marks across the wood as she’d tried to hold herself. Her eyes had bronze flecks in them. “Help me,” she whispered, as if she were too exhausted to fight any longer.

  “Nat!” He bolted across the floor. He caught her under the arms and pulled on her… and she continued to disappear further into the wall. “Mother of hell!”

  Tears streamed from her eyes. “I can’t stop it. I can feel the monsters inside me—”

  “No!” Fury raced through him, white-hot rage, and suddenly there was an enormous serrated blade in his hands. The metal was glowing purple. He had no idea what he’d just created, but he knew instinctively what to do with it. He jammed it into the wall that was trying to suck Natalie into the abyss of doom. The wall pulsed and shrieked, and then exploded.

  Nigel cradled Natalie as it flung them across the room. He shoved her into the protective shield of his body as they careened into the opposite wall.

  They hit hard and crashed to the ground. He had no time to check on Natalie before his head was hammering from a new assault by Smutty. He jerked his gaze up to see Smutty staggering toward him, hands out, invading his mind.

  “Enough already!” Nigel grabbed Natalie, flung her under his arm, and attacked. The blades spewed left and right, hitting everywhere, but he could still feel Smutty in his head, trying to take away his fury. “Hell—”

  “Get out!” Christian shouted. “We have to get out!” Christian sprinted p
ast him, Pascal over his shoulder. “Go out the hole!”

  Nigel tucked Natalie up against him and ran after Christian. He leapt through the cavernous opening he’d created with his sword, and then they were flying through space, through a void, through blackness. To hell? To salvation?

  They were about to find out.

  ***

  Natalie heard the demons screaming as Nigel carried her through the opening. She felt them clawing at her arms. Oh… wait… those were Nigel’s weapons digging into her as they tried to emerge from his body. He was going mad. He was going over the edge.

  “Nigel!” She shouted at him as they fell to whatever hell awaited them. “Stop!”

  “No chance of that, sweetheart—” And then the demons came.

  Real demons. Just like in her dreams. Claws, snarls, howls of torture and death, bursting out of the darkness. She fought off the claws, hit at her assailants, gagged at the scent of sulfur. She realized they were catapulting down a black chasm, glowing eyes watching them—

  Then Nigel went ballistic, attacking, and Christian did the same. Their weapons were moving too fast for her to see, and somehow, miraculously, nothing hit her, nothing gouged her. The creatures stopped going for her, fought for survival against two powerful and enraged warriors. And then there was a wail of capitulation, and the demons were gone. A battle cut short by the guardians protecting her.

  Utter silence, and then the rock walls disappeared, and they were free-falling in darkness, in stillness—

  “Nat!” Nigel grabbed her and pulled her against him. “Hang on to me,” he gasped, his voice harsh and raspy. She threw her arms around him and buried herself against his body. She could feel his chest poking at her as knives fought to free themselves from his body, but he kept them in control, never actually stabbing her (always a good quality in a man).

  He buried his face in her hair. “God, I could hold you forever,” he whispered. “You’re the serenity of my soul.”

  Warmth filled her and she hugged him tighter, needing his touch as much as he seemed to need hers. The wind whistled past as they fell, but in Nigel’s arms, there was peace. She needed his support and his embrace after the hell they’d just been through. She concentrated on the feel of his whiskers against her cheeks, allowing the sensation of his body against hers to ease her tension.

  The world disappeared, until all that was left was Nigel, their bodies tangled together as they fell in the blackness. She had no idea where they would land or how much it would hurt, but she didn’t really care. With Nigel, she knew that everything would be all right.

  “You’re smiling,” Nigel said. “I can feel your face against mine. Why?”

  “I just realized that after a lifetime of being terrified of one bad ending after another, now that I’m in a situation with high potential for serious negative impact, I’m not worried. I’m just happy to be where I am.”

  He pulled her more tightly against him and brushed his mouth over hers. “That’s my girl,” he said softly. “A giant first step. Feel good?”

  She raised her face to his. “Oh, yes.”

  He kissed her then, a tender and gentle kiss. A kiss that spoke of their mutual need to replace the experience they’d just had with something that felt good, with something that restored their souls and brought lightness to their spirits.

  “Incoming,” Christian called out. “Brace yourself.”

  Nigel broke the kiss and shifted their position in the air so he was below her. “Hang on, sweetheart. This could get rough.”

  “Okay—” She didn’t even have time to brace herself before they crashed to the ground. Nigel absorbed most of the impact and rolled them as they landed, diffusing the impact, but she still felt like she’d just had a load of cement blocks dropped on her chest. “Oh, God.”

  Nigel grunted and let her go as he rolled away from her. The loss of his body was jarring, and she skidded another few yards before coming to a stop. She lay on her side and tried to catch her breath as she heard Nigel groan. “Nigel? Where are you?” She reached for him but felt only cold steel flooring. It was so dark, she could see nothing but blackness.

  “Here,” he growled, his voice harsh and throaty, as if he’d been hit with a sudden case of laryngitis.

  Natalie raised her head as her eyes began to adjust. They were in a dimly lit tunnel that smelled of death and rot. “Where are we?”

  “We’re back at the portal,” Christian said. “Let’s go.”

  “The portal?” Hallelujah! She was so on board with getting out right now. She stumbled to her feet and saw the decayed body of Max against the wall. That was what she’d been smelling. The abandonment of life. She didn’t need Nigel’s expertise to tell her that Max’s physical being had finally abandoned the effort of clinging to life.

  She heard Christian run for the door, but she didn’t move. There was only one set of footsteps heading for freedom, which meant Nigel was still down somewhere. “Nigel?” It was too dark to see much, but she could make out a shadowed outline of his body. He was on his hands and knees. She stumbled toward him, her body aching from the crash landing. “Are you okay?”

  “No, sweetheart, I’m not.” His body shuddered again, and he bowed his head, as if he was willing all his strength into suppressing the weapons. “Get out,” he ordered. “Both of you. I’m going to lose it.” Metal glinted in his shoulder, then a tiny razor-sharp shard split free and sideswiped her arm.

  Natalie winced and grabbed her arm, realizing suddenly that even though he’d seemed crazed back in the Den, he’d actually been managing the blades. But not now. Because she knew he would never hurt her if he could help it.

  He drew his head up, his face stricken. “Mother of God,” he whispered. “I’m going to kill you.” And then another blade went off. And another. They were going in all directions now, and another careened recklessly toward her head. She ducked, and it skimmed past her ear.

  Nigel dug his fingers into the steel floor, and the pads of his hands were sizzling from the burning of the stainless steel that all the warriors were so sensitive to. “Can’t fight it off much longer,” he muttered. “Get out.”

  It was like the alley again. All over again. “No!” Natalie raced over to him. “You can control it—”

  “I can’t!” He grabbed her shoulders and flung her away. “I can’t control it without my art—”

  She landed on her bottom and slid across the floor before she could stop herself. “Then get your art—”

  There was a roar of fury from Christian, and Natalie whirled around in time to see Pascal convulse in Christian’s arms. The younger warrior shuddered, began to sparkle, and then he was jerked out of Christian’s arms. He flew past them and bolted down the long hallway, out of sight. “Oh, no.”

  Christian roared his protest and started to run after Pascal, and then one of Nigel’s blades hit him in the chest. “Shit!” He whipped out his sword as he staggered. “Pull yourself together, man!”

  “Can’t,” Nigel growled. “Get away from me.”

  “I have to get Pascal—”

  Then Natalie heard footsteps pounding down the hallway toward them. Christian went rigid and raised his head. “It’s Smutty and Mari.” He fisted his sword. “They’re going down now—”

  “Run,” Nigel gasped. “We can’t beat them. Not right now.” Another blade hit Christian. “Shit!”

  Christian turned metal, and the next blade bounced off his skin. He took one last long look down the tunnel that had stolen Pascal, then he turned his back on the missing warrior and faced Nigel and Natalie. “Get behind me, Natalie!” Christian ordered. “Now!”

  “No!” She wasn’t going to leave Nigel behind to be taken by Mari and Smutty. No way! She grabbed Nigel’s arm and began to drag him toward the entrance. “We’re not abandoning him—”

  “Of course we’re not.” Christian’s metal-encased hands turned to flesh, and then he grabbed Nigel’s wrist and hauled him toward the portal. “Go!�
��

  Nigel was writhing on the ground, his eyes were rolled back in his head, and blades were flying everywhere. Natalie grimaced as another knife cut her thigh, and she ducked behind Christian, whose suit of armor seemed to be protecting him.

  “Go!” Christian roared as more blades thunked off his skin. “Now! I’ll cover you!”

  She ran, and she heard Christian break into a sprint behind her. Nigel’s body screamed over the stainless floor, his blades tearing along the ground as they burst from his body into the now-rutted floor.

  “Stop them, Charlie!” Mari’s shout bounced off the walls, and Natalie felt sudden pressure in her head.

  She hesitated, suddenly no longer driven by the need to get away. Why was she running? There was no need to leave… Then a knife sliced across her arm. The pain jerked her back to consciousness as Smutty rounded the corner, and she realized he’d tried to steal her dream of escape. Too late, jerk off!

  “Go!” Christian yelled.

  She went. Natalie reached the portal mere yards in front of Christian. The air shimmered thickly around them, and then they were through.

  Never had a Cavern of Murderous Poltergeists looked so fantastic! She paused long enough to make sure that Christian still had Nigel, and then they ran. They sprinted past screaming ghouls that now didn’t seem quite so scary, after facing down Mari and Smutty.

  They burst out into the night, and Nigel was still releasing blades like he wanted to eviscerate the earth. Christian threw him into the trunk of the Mercedes, and Natalie blocked him when he tried to close it. “You can’t lock him up like some monster—”

  “He is a monster.” Christian yanked her back from the car and slammed the trunk shut. Inside was the loud crash of metal hitting the metal, of the car groaning in protest. Christian handed the keys to her. “Meet me at his place. Go!”

  Without waiting for a response, Christian sprinted off to a motorcycle. He jammed on the engine and then peeled out. He shouted something at her, and then he was gone.

  Natalie raced around to the front of the Mercedes, leapt inside, and gunned the engine. The tires squealed and then the car lurched forward just at Mari and Smutty came racing out of the cave. So sorry. Gotta run. The car careened across the gravel shoulder before she caught control.