The Dragon Witch

by Drako

  Lucifer raised his now healed arm. “And yet in the end, you will die. I heal faster than you dish out damage.”

  “You haven’t healed from everything Ares has done to you. You’re bleeding.”

  “He is a god, and in the end, he will die here as well. It’s a shame to have to kill him really. If he’d join forces with me, the fall of the Olympians and the Dragon Gods would be so much simpler.”

  “I hate to break it to you, but it seems to me that you’re the one that’s about to lose here today. You can’t get the grimoire without me.”

  “All I need to do is kill you and technically, I’ll have won it fair and square.”

  “Feel free to keep trying.” Not wasting any more time, Victoria attacked again.

  Ares flew through the demon horde, slaughtering every demon in his path. As the god of war, such activity came easily. He rained down fire and lightning and each slash of his sword never failed to fell an enemy. Mentally, he reached for Kazarian, summoning him to the realm. When he stopped, Kazarian stood beside him along with Andreas.

  “You waited awfully late to call me in,” Kazarian commented as he surveyed the battlefield.

  “I’m shoving your head up your own ass if my nephews are hurt,” Andreas told the war god.

  “Forgive me for not shaking in my boots, but this is the first battle of a war and the majority of the bodies you see here were slain by your nephews. Take your threats and shove them.” Ares looked to Kazarian. “The boys are tired, however, and these portals need to be closed. Back them up and close the portals. I’ve got to take care of Lucifer. Victoria can’t hold him off forever.”

  Andreas stepped forward. “I’ll handle the demons. You can take care of the portals.” He jumped off the ledge.

  A few seconds later, he flew up in his massive dragon form and let out a roar that caught the attention of every demon in the area. He opened his mouth and a large stream of flames shot out. He turned his head in different directions, aiming the flames for all the demons he saw.

  “Well, that makes my life easier,” Ares muttered.

  “I’ll work on those portals. He can’t keep that up forever,” Kazarian commented.

  The two gods separated, Ares heading for Victoria and Lucifer and Kazarian for the many portals still open with demons pouring out of them.

  Lucifer caught Victoria with a backhand that knocked her to the ground. The force of the blow left her head spinning. Before Lucifer could strike again, a bolt of lightning struck him the chest and sent him flying again. Ares approached quickly and as he did he repeatedly launched balls of fire at Lucifer, each one striking the target and keeping him down. Even as he reached Victoria, Ares kept going, clearly enraged. When he stopped, he sprang forward and stopped just in front of Lucifer. Holding his hand in front of him, he unleashed a blast of flames so intense that there was an explosion and Victoria was blown away. Several demons were caught in the blast and those that weren’t were also blown away.

  Victoria flipped and landed on her feet, wiping blood from her now split lip. As she looked around, she saw that the portals were closed, and Andreas was flying through making quick work of the rest of the horde. Brandon and Demun had stopped finally and had collapsed. Alarmed, she went to her nephews and looked them over. They were alive and conscious, but completely exhausted.

  “How bad off are you two?’ she asked.

  “Bleeding heavily from several places and I’m fairly certain I’m going to have to regrow some internal organs, but I’ll live,” Brandon replied.

  “Same here,” Demun added.

  Victoria began looking them over. “Not bad, considering what you were up against. You can’t flash, can you?’

  Brandon laughed bitterly. “Definitely not. We’re tapped out. Where’s Phil?”

  The wolf in question was actually walking towards them. He collapsed next to Brandon and reverted back to human form. He was wounded all over and bleeding even more than the boys.

  “Where’s Adonis?” he managed to ask.

  Brandon looked around. “I don’t see him.”

  “Balthas is gone as well.” Victoria sighed. “I’ll have to hunt him down.”

  Ares appeared at her side. “Lucifer ran as well.”

  “Shit, we have to go after him.” Brandon stuck his sword in the ground and pushed himself up.

  “Not until we get what we came for.” Victoria stood up. “Hecate, goddess of witchcraft and magic, mistress of the night, daughter of Asteria, I invoke you now as the games of the Rose Realm have been settled, and the winner stands here.”

  A strong wind kicked up and rose petals formed a whirlwind before Hecate herself appeared.

  “Ah, I see the outcome was favorable. But as I have been summoned, so must be the others,” she told her daughter.

  Victoria nodded. “Jarel, embodiment of black fire, ruler of all paranormal beings, and king of the Dragon Gods, I call you forth to witness the winner of the games of the Rose Realm.”

  Black flames burst up from the ground before Jarel appeared with a raised eyebrow. “Continue on with the summons, daughter of mine.”

  “Desdemona, demon goddess and queen, I demand your presence here at the conclusion of the Rose Realm games.”

  In a flash of orange light, Desdemona appeared with a scowl on her face. “You have some kind of balls to summon me in such a manner.”

  Jarel sneered at her. “Deal with it. It was better than my way. I’d have come down there and bitch slapped you out of your own realm.”

  Victoria looked to her mother. “How do I summon the last one? She’s no longer in this world.”

  “You can’t,” Hecate told her. “Zeus is ruler of all, so he will have to do in her place.”

  Victoria took a deep breath and continued. “Zeus, son of Cronus, leader of the Olympian gods and ruler of heaven and earth, I call you forth as the last witness to the end of the games of the Rose Realm.”

  Lightning struck the ground and Zeus appeared with an amused expression on his face. Now Hecate spoke.

  “Despite Lucifer’s attempts to cheat and manipulate these games, as you can see, the Dragon Witch stands tall with her nephew. Their supporting forces have laid waste to the invading dark forces supporting the Prince of Darkness. Can we all agree on this matter?”

  Desdemona snorted. “Leave it to Lucifer to screw up his best shot at gaining enough power to be of worth.”

  “I swear, if you don’t agree, I will cast you into Tartarus myself and torture the hell out of you from now until the end of days,” Jarel growled.

  Desdemona rolled her eyes. “You don’t scare me. But fine, I acknowledge the fact that they survived the games we designed.”

  Zeus merely nodded his agreement and Jarel gave Hecate a hard look, making it clear where he stood.

  “Now, may I ask the twins to step forward?” Hecate asked.

  Brandon helped his brother to his feet and the two stood before Hecate.

  “Here and now, a choice must be made by you two.”

  Desdemona sighed and stepped forward. “I believe this is my part to explain. Now, you two know me as a raving bitch, and in this you’re right. I’m everything you think I am and then some. You’ve also heard that I can only be killed by the one to replace me as ruler of the demon gods. The little twist that the Moirae threw in there, the bitches, is that I may avoid my death by instead choosing my successor. But I can only have one successor, not two, as is possible at this moment. And so, one of you must choose to take my place. The other gets the grimoire and the secrets it holds.”

  “So one of us becomes a demon god, and the other gets a mystery book that could be a dud?” Brandon asked bitterly.

  “You could try not being a smartass and deciding what you want,” Demun told him.

  “I came for the book, so that’s my choice.”

  “There you have it,” Demun told his grandmother.

  “Now, boys, you will transition as soon as these gifts are passed
to you,” Jarel warned. “If necessary, I’ll knock you into the next millennium, so do try to keep your composure.”

  Demun smirked. “Gotta love Gramps.”

  “Let’s move this along. I’ve got a bad feeling,” Brandon commented.

  A large, black leather bound book appeared in Hecate’s hands. She touched the front of the book and a white light engulfed her hand. As she did so, a white light engulfed Desdemona’s hand as well.

  “Hold out your hands,” Hecate told the boys.

  Each of the twins held out their right hands.

  “Just to be clear, the book is a physical representation of the knowledge you will gain. You can use it if you like, or merely tap into your mind. You’ll find that there are many uses for it. But now, I hand you the power contained in this book,” Hecate explained to Brandon.

  She took Brandon’s hand as Desdemona took Demun’s. The twins’ eyes widened as power shot through them. White light flashed and blinded everyone around them. Energy was released and Jarel immediately moved everyone to the top of the coliseum. The white light encased the twins, along with Desdemona and Hecate.

  “What’s going on?” Victoria asked.

  “Their transitions are nothing like yours. They are gods now,” Jarel answered.

  “So, in other words, I’m done being guardian,” Andreas commented as he transformed back to human form and landed at their side.

  “Not exactly. They have a lot of knowledge with this new station, but experience is always helpful. You’ve been around far longer and your nephews will always look up to you.” Jarel folded his arms across his chest. “Besides, someone has to calm them when they realize they can’t stop what comes next.”

  “What are you talking about?” Victoria demanded.

  “You’ll see soon enough.” Jarel continued to stare down at the bright light hiding his grandsons from view.

  The ground began to tremble.

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve witnessed the birth of a god,” Zeus commented.

  “Not since Heracles if I remember correctly,” Jarel agreed.

  Andreas folded his arms across his chest. “I’m assuming you mean the day Zeus granted him godhood after his mortal life ended. And I don’t think his birth was quite like this.”

  “Heracles was always mostly god anyway, as he was bred to be Zeus’ strongest child,” Jarel explained. “Besides, his birth was much different. His mortal half was burned away by poison and fire. The boys are simply changing. Their mortal, demon, and dragon parts are combining into one and they’re undergoing an entire change. And then, there is their alternate form.”

  Zeus peered down into the light, his eyes clearly seeing what was happening inside. “I believe it is almost done, and they are quite unique.”

  A shockwave went off and the light vanished, leaving Hecate and Desdemona standing with two very different twins. They were much taller, now at least Jarel’s height and both had large wings, just like those of a dragon. Their bodies were toned and muscular, and covered with strange markings in addition to the black dragon birthmarks they’d always had. But there was one key difference in the two. One of the two had completely black, marbled skin and his eyes were completely red. The other was the opposite, his skin a marbled red and his eyes completely black. Power emanated from them both and their eyes locked onto the others.

  “Did I not tell you both I’d bitch slap you into the next millennium if I had to?” Jarel asked them. “Get a hold of yourselves already. You’re wasting my time and yours.”

  Desdemona snorted. “Only he’d be arrogant enough to tell two possibly rampaging beasts with godly powers such a thing.”

  “Thanks to the hell you have wrought, we cannot afford to allow them to engage Jarel and Zeus. They would fall and Jarel and Zeus would be weakened.” Hecate held up a hand to stop Desdemona. “I will not hesitate to kill you now if you dare suggest a thing to either of the boys. Now that you have given up your godhood, you can be killed by anyone and said killer will not be forced to rule demonkind.”

  The twins turned to them.

  “She could not suggest a thing to us,” the red one spoke. “We are of sound mind.”

  “We simply cannot yet contain the power to transform to our usual form,” the black one added.

  “Give yourselves a few moments,” Hecate told them.

  “I don’t have a few moments.” The area went dark for a few moments and when all was clear, the black one was gone.

  “Well, now we know which one was which one is which,” Andreas muttered.

  “We need to go after him,” Jarel told them. “He can’t handle what’s to come next. Victoria, Phillip, come with me. The rest of you return to Solaris.”

  Thirty Six

  Brandon appeared on a cliff in the mortal world. And what he saw made him howl in grief. On a stone altar was a broken and battered body with a large ceremonial dagger sticking out of the chest. He stood over the body as Jarel appeared with Phil and Victoria. He turned to face them, and gradually, he transformed back to his human form, even as Demun appeared next to him, also in human form.

  “Could you do something with that?” he asked his brother, gesturing to the altar.

  Demun nodded and went to the altar while Brandon walked to Phil.

  “You don’t want to see this,” he told him.

  Phil shoved him out of the way and walked to the altar, then stopped and fell to his knees. Victoria’s hand went to her mouth in shock and Brandon closed his eyes and stood where he was. Sadness filled Jarel’s silver eyes as he gazed at the body of Adonis, now in Demun’s arms.

  “What in the hell happened to him?!” Phil demanded, rising to take Adonis’ body from Demun.

  “He was ritually sacrificed to Lucifer,” Victoria answered softly. “I’ve seen this done more times than I can count over the years.”

  “Why?!” was all that Brandon asked.

  “Because he was the key to the mortal world, the key sealed long ago by the goddess Verlaine,” Jarel answered. “The reason the wolves were after him was for this.”

  “So my bringing him to the Rose Realm….” Demun started.

  “No!” Jarel said vehemently. “That was not your fault. He would have gotten there one way or the other. Adonis knew his fate.”

  “Yeah, he knew all along,” Brandon said quietly.

  Phil looked at him harshly. “Did you know?”

  Brandon glared at him. “Don’t you think I’d have stopped him had I known?! Of course I didn’t. But now I know what he meant when he said he had to be there. He had to be sacrificed and he knew it. But why?”

  “There are things that I can tell you, and there are things I can’t. All I know is that he was the key Lucifer needed, and he is Lucifer’s downfall.” Jarel approached Phil and waved a hand over Adonis’ face, eliminating the bruises. “You will know the truth soon enough. The answer is in your mind and your grimoire. You must learn it and accept it on your own.”

  Brandon stilled and his eyes went curiously blank.

  “Brandon?” Phil tapped him but got no response.

  “Demun, take your brother to Solaris,” Jarel ordered. “His mind is going through more processes with his transition. His personality has to merge.”

  Demun touched his brother’s shoulder and flames encircled them before they vanished. Jarel turned to his daughter.

  “You must hunt Balthas and kill him before Brandon awakes or he will complete your assignment for you,” he told her.

  “I’m pretty sure I know where he would have gone.”

  Jarel waved his hand and she vanished. Then he turned to Phil.

  “You and I will plan his funeral. We’ll clean him up and set up his body’s resting place.”

  Phil nodded as he looked down at Adonis’ face.

  Brandon found himself in darkness, which was familiar to him. He was in the portion of his mind that belonged to Id.

  “Here we are again, only this time it’s not
because you overexerted yourself.” Id appeared before him.

  “Why am I here?” Brandon asked. “Could I just not handle the loss of Adonis?”

  “No, you handled it fine. You know what I know. He’s not our soul mate.”

  Brandon didn’t deny that, but he waited for Id to continue.

  “You and I must become one. Two of us cannot exist in this body. It is time for you to stand alone.”

  “But how do we do that?” Brandon asked. “I didn’t mean to separate us in the first place.”

  Id extended his hand. “The same way you received your godhood. Give me your hand and accept me as part of you. Then you and I will be one.”

  “I’ve gotten used to having your voice in my head.” Brandon gave a sad smile. “I think I might miss it.”

  Id laughed. “I am you. I simply will not exist separately. All the things I normally say you will say for yourself. You will be whole. And you will do what you must to survive. You will have all my demonic knowledge, the knowledge you kept from yourself. You will know everything I have done whenever on the surface. You will know all that I know.”

  “Well then, this isn’t exactly a goodbye.” Brandon took his hand and was blinded by a flash of light before being engulfed in darkness.

  He awoke in his bed several hours later with Demun at his side. He sat up and was surprised to see Phil sitting in his room as well. The poor guy was heartbroken, his smile completely gone.

  “How long was I out?” he asked.

  “Three days,” Demun told him.

  “We held off on the funeral for you,” Phil added softly.

  Brandon ran a hand down his face in exasperation. “Thanks.”

  Demun watched his brother. “Victoria hasn’t found Balthas yet. And we’ve been waiting for you.”

  “Why?’ Brandon asked.

  “You want to be there, don’t you?” Phil asked.

  “What I want is to make him suffer eternally.”

  “And so you shall.” Jarel appeared. “You are the god of shadows and darkness now, the replacement of Lucifer’s father. It is only fitting if you decide Balthas’ punishment in Tartarus. Even Hecate agrees.”