by J W Kiefer
Steve put his hands up and stepped back. “Whoa now, Dana, I was just trying to help. You looked like you were about to pass out. Jeeze, what’s gotten into you, anyway? Your usual defensiveness seems to be turned up to eleven.”
She glowered at him but did not relax. She watched him as he smiled warmly attempting to calm her. Her outburst had drawn the attention of some of the other officers and they looked ready to head over. She exhaled deliberately and calmed herself before waving them off.
“It’s nothing. I’m just tired,” she replied, attempting to mask the underlying suspicion she felt.
“I get it,” he said, leaning back against the door frame. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. Remembering that he had seen her smoking the other day, he held out the pack. She shook her head, so he shrugged and lit his cigarette.
Steve said, “I haven’t seen you since the funeral. I would’ve come by to check on you, but I figured it was best to leave you alone for a while.”
Dana’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah.”
Steve watched her as he exhaled, expecting her to say more, but she did not. After a few minutes of silence where she seemed lost in her own thoughts, Steve put out his cigarette. “Well, since the excitement is over for the night, I guess I’ll head back inside. You take care of yourself and let me know if you need a friend.”
“Steve,” she called to him softly. Her head was bowed, her fists clenched at her sides.
A warm smile was painted onto Steve’s face, but inwardly warning bells were going off in alarm.
She knows, he thought.
He reached back and allowed the inky darkness to coalesce into a blade. Dana was still not looking at him. His mind raced as he contemplated his next course of action.
The impulsive Steve wanted to damn the consequences and strike, but something inside warned him to pause. Maybe her sudden change in demeanor had nothing to do with him. Certainly if he attacked her now, a swarm of police officers would descend on him before he had time to escape. Plus, Dana was no slouch, and he knew she could handle herself. No, he would not strike just yet. He’d wait to see how this all played out before he acted.
Dana finally raised her head to look at him. Her large brown eyes bore into him with such fire that he felt uncomfortable under her gaze. When she spoke, her voice was calm and controlled but held the same intensity as her eyes. “I just wanted you to know that I will find out who killed Jared, and when I do, I will make sure that they never hurt anyone else again.”
“I have no doubt you will,” he replied. “And I am sure he will go away for a long—”
Dana cut him off with a raised hand. “No, Steve. Let me make this very clear. When I find them, and make no mistake I will, I am going to personally make sure that they never hurt anyone again. No trial, no judge, no passing go and collecting two hundred dollars. Just simple and unadulterated justice.”
“Well now,” Steve said, his lips curled in a smirk. “That is not very police-like of you. Besides, are you sure that when you do finally crack this case, you’ll be able to handle what you find?”
As he spoke Dana noticed that he held one of his hands behind his back. He noticed the slight flick of her eyes and the suspicion that rose up in them and stiffened. They stood glaring at each other before Dana finally relaxed.
She sighed and turned away from Steve and walked back toward the waiting crime scene. He watched her go. He still could not be sure of what she knew, but he could definitely sense hostility and suspicion. Perhaps it was time for him to learn just how much she knew.
“Oh and by the way,” Dana said. “Were you staying here with Jared before we left to go to the city?”
“Yeah. I crashed on the couch. Why do you ask? Does it have something to do with the dead girl in the apartment across the hall?”
She smiled a disarming smile, but it was obviously forced. “Well, the estimated time of death is right about that time. You didn’t happen to see anything, did you?”
He cocked his head as if in thought. “No. Not that I can recall. Of course, I crashed pretty hard that night.”
“Anybody who can verify that?” The predatory look in her eyes belied her friendly smile.
Steve’s smile widened into a harsh grin. “Just Jared, I’m afraid.”
She shook her head and walked away. He watched her go, his thoughts racing.
Then she yelled over her shoulder, “Hey, don’t leave town. We may have a few more questions for you.”
“Am I a suspect or something?” he asked nonchalantly.
She didn’t even bother replying. It was obvious Dana was toying with him to see if he would give anything away. He smiled wickedly. Yes, it was definitely time to find out what she knew.
Thirty-Five
The horde of attackers got heavier as people piled on him. Strangely he still felt neither pain nor the pressure of being crushed. Despite the grasping fingers trying to hold his head down, Jared turned toward the hotel door. He could not see Jeremy, but heard a fight coming from the room. At least Jeremy was still alive. Someone had got Jared’s hand and was attempting to pry open his fist and remove the sword, but his grip held firm.
“Don’t worry. As long as our connection is strong, nothing can separate us,” Tzedakah spoke into his mind.
“That’s good to know,” he said through grunts. “I guess me throwing you into a lake like Excalibur is out of the question, then?”
He managed to get one arm free of the bodies and grabbed a middle-aged blonde woman by her hair. Too hard. Her head whipped back and her neck snapped from the force. She flipped end over end, skipping off the ground like a pebble on water. Her body flopped over, her head bent and facing him, her eyes fixed and lifeless.
Jared gritted his teeth in frustration and anger. His dark eyes saw everything about the woman who now lay dead. She was a schoolteacher with two children, a good person who had tried her best to live her life helping others. He had not intended to kill her, and his heart ached at the thought of her children growing up without their mother. As he continued to look at her, he saw that the red stain melted and fade away.
So, killing them removed the influence of the stain, but it would be murder. No, killing them was not an option. Even Tzedakah agreed they needed to find another way. Jeremy was running out of time and he had to get these people off him quickly so they could regroup and figure out their next move. He gritted his teeth in frustration and reached inside himself, allowing his connection to Tzedakah to get stronger. Doing so was hard for him, because the more he allowed the sword in, the more he felt like he was losing himself.
As soon as he opened his consciousness to Tzedakah, its power surged through him. The blade in his grip burned with a bright blue fire. He growled through his teeth and let out a guttural roar, as he slowly muscled his way to his feet.
Bright blue surges of energy swept out from him, tossing off the people clinging him. One man stubbornly hung on his neck, refusing to let go, somehow managing to ignore the energy that jolted through his body. Jared reached up with his free hand, grabbed the man by his shirt, and hurled him to the side. He struck a parked car, denting the door, and went limp.
Jared ran to the motel room where he knew Jeremy was still fighting. Just before he reached the doorway, he heard Jeremy yell something unintelligible and a brilliant blast of intense light exploded from the opening. Instinctively Jared put his arm up to shield his eyes from the bright light. As soon as the light subsided, three men and two women came stumbling out of the door. They seemed to be dazed and staggered confusedly, blinking and rubbing their eyes from the shock.
A disheveled Jeremy casually walked out of the door as the disoriented people stumbled away. He plucked at one of the sleeves of his coat. “I know. I know!” he said out loud. “I know I should have done that sooner, but I was distracted by the demon zombies trying to rip my face off. Anyway, not to tell You how to do Your job, but if You had intervened sooner, my favorite coat wo
uld not have gotten ripped. Oh haha, very funny.”
He walked over to where a surprised Jared stood. “That’ll only stop them temporarily, so we really should get out of here before they recover, or their boss shows up.”
Jared cocked his head and looked at Jeremy. His spirit appeared to be merged with God Himself, and it was so bright that it actually hurt his eyes to look at him. As he watched, the energy slowly faded until it was nothing more than an aura of residual power shrouding him.
“What was that?”
Jeremy stuck a finger through the large tear in his coat and wiggled it. “My favorite coat, with a hole in it! It’s not like I have the money to just go around buying coats all the time.”
“Jeremy,” he snapped. “Stop worrying about the coat and answer my question.”
Sighing, Jeremy left his torn jacket alone for the moment. “A light burst. It’s what usually happens when God or an angel shows up. Too bad their boss was not in that room; he most likely would’ve been fried and this whole mess would be over. Of course, that would just be too easy, wouldn’t it?” This last statement was directed at the sky. “Well, one good thing came of it. The ones that were touched by the light will not be able to be taken over again. So that’s something, anyway.”
A loud roar bellowed from directly above them and reverberated through them like a shock wave. About thirty feet up, a large shadow darker than the night sky hovered in the air. Jared could see that the tendrils of spiritual power were coming from it. Some of the tendrils had been severed, but enough remained connected to be a concern. He had already seriously hurt and even killed a few of the possessed people. He needed to end this quickly before more innocent people were injured.
“You ready for round two?” Jeremy put his back to Jared’s.
The people that Jared had stunned were now stalking toward them. Tendrils leached out from the dark silhouette above him, weaving and twisting into a massive network of threads that connected to each one of the possessed people. His vision dimmed and his thoughts became sluggish and disconnected as Tzedakah invaded his mind. He pushed back vehemently at the intrusion and the blade backed off at his resistance and tried a different tactic. The image of him severing the cords that bound the people appeared in his mind.
“I understand,” he said out loud.
Jeremy glanced back at him. “You understand what?”
Before Jared could respond, the nearest person charged him. It was a freckle-faced teenager with his long brown hair tied up in a ponytail. Red tendrils snaked around the boy’s body; Jared swung Tzedakah at them. They dissolved as soon as the blade made contact, releasing the boy from the possession.
The kid stopped in his tracks, blinking in confusion. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Where am—”
New blood red tendrils of spiritual energy snaked toward him and wrapped themselves around his mind. He convulsed in pain and screamed as he fought the influence of the demonic puppet master. His eyes clouded over, and his body went limp as he lost the battle of wills and was reconnected to the horde.
The young man charged at him again and Jared once again went to cut the spiritual threads, but before his blade could slice them, the boy swung his arm up to block the strike. The sword bit deep into the boy’s arm, severing the hand but missing the tendrils. Jared looked on in horror as blood spurted from the place where the boy’s arm had been. Incredulously the boy did not react to the injury but swung his other arm hard at Jared’s face. He evaded the blow easily and swung Tzedakah, once again attempting to sever the demonic connection.
The boy jinked sideways and backhanded the blade with the same arm he’d just attacked with, once again deflecting the blow away from the connecting threads. This time the blade severed his arm at the bicep, and the momentum from the boy’s swing sent the severed arm spinning through the air, spattering blood across his face and torso.
Laughter echoed from the hovering shadow, and it infuriated Jared. The demon was using the boy’s body as a shield, and at the rate the boy was losing blood, he wouldn’t live much longer. As if on cue, the boy’s eyes flickered and rolled up into his head and he passed out.
Jeremy was hard pressed at his back, using every trick he had to keep the attackers on his side at bay. It would not be long before he was overwhelmed. The boy that Jared had injured hung limp in front of him in the air. His body listed backward and to one side like a discarded marionette as his lifeblood poured from the stumps where his arm and hand had been.
As he watched, the boy’s face twitched and contorted with pain and his eyes flared to life with recognition. The young man looked at him with such fear and panic that Jared’s heart broke. His eyes pleaded with Jared and he mouthed, Help.
“Hold on!” Jared shouted as tears streamed down the young man’s face.
Then the life in the boy’s eyes faded and went out. His head slumped and his wispy spirit slipped out his body.
“Joe,” Tzedakah whispered.
Joe was gone.
Laughter bellowed from above and the horde halted and froze at the sound. He could hear Jeremy panting behind him, but everything else had faded away, replaced by a blinding and all-consuming rage.
“Injustice!” The word roared through his very soul, giving definition and purpose to the seething fury. Everything that Joe could and would have been flared before his eyes and was aborted.
“Injustice!” he heard himself shout. The words exploded from his lips with the force of a thunderclap, emitting a shock wave that sent people, cars, and anything else that was not bolted down hurtling away.
Tzedakah glowed angrily and Jared thrust his arm upward and the people who had been thrown in all directions suddenly froze in place. The cars and debris kept careening outward until it all crashed violently into anything and everything in its way.
Jared stood, his arm raised above his head, in an empty crater encircled by crushed cars and debris. The remaining people who had attacked him hung suspended, motionless and stunned, in the air around him like a twisted mobile. Jeremy, who had not been affected by the shock wave, stood dumbfounded, his mouth agape, staring at the carnage.
Tzedakah flared and torrents of blue-black energy arced from the sentient sword, surging into the suspended individuals. As they trembled and shook, the energy found its way to each connecting strand and used the tendrils as conduits to flow up and into the unseen puppet master. The demon howled in pain as power surged into him from a thousand different directions. Jared swung Tzedakah downward and the tendrils that connected the evil spirit to his pawns evaporated.
Jeremy watched in awe as the people who had been possessed slowly and gently descended back to Earth. Every one of them was unconscious, oblivious to the nightmare going on around them. Up in the sky where the surges of energy had converged, there hovered the monster Dominion.
“He looks angry,” Jeremy commented. “Definitely hurt from your whatever-that-was. But the real battle is only just beginning.”
Jared’s dark eyes writhed angrily as he glared up at the massive demon lord. “No,” he replied in a voice that did not seem like his own. “The battle is already over.”
Dominion roared furiously down at the two men and bared his long dagger-like teeth. His bat wings beat furiously as he fought to keep himself aloft. He clapped his fists together, then drew his hands apart. A long glowing curved sword of energy materialized in his hand.
“I will tear you to pieces, fledgling,” he spat.
Jared was suddenly behind the demon lord. All Jeremy registered from the movement was a slight gust of wind as Jared seemed to materialize from thin air. Before the demon had time to perceive what was happening, Jared had struck him so forcefully in the back, he hurtled to the ground like a meteor.
“Oh, crap!” Jeremy muttered as the demon meteor streaked directly at him. He threw up his arms and shouted a quick prayer to the Lord. “Okay, God, now would be a good time to make Yourself known.”
Jeremy squeezed his
eyes shut and braced himself for the impact, but nothing happened. After a few seconds, he tentatively opened one eye to survey the scene. Since he had not felt himself being ripped apart by a cataclysmic explosion, he was sure that he would see the pearly gates of heaven with Saint Peter beckoning to him.
“You okay?” an angelic voice asked.
Jeremy looked up and squinted at the person who had spoken to him. Upon seeing who it was that had saved him, he stood and heaved an exasperated sigh. Sanctuary stood over him, his two flaming swords glowing fiercely as the remains of Dominion dissipated into blood-red smoke.
“If it had been any other angelic being standing here, I would have said yes, but since it’s you, that would be a definite no.”
“Your gratitude for saving your life is duly noted,” Sanctuary dryly replied as he replaced his twin swords in their scabbards on his back.
Jared’s feet touched the earth. He collapsed and fell to one knee. He braced himself on his sword.
“What happened?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“You nearly killed me, that’s what happened,” Jeremy fumed.
Sanctuary reached down to help Jared up. Jared took his hand and allowed the big man to lift him to a standing position.
“Tzedakah took control of you during the battle,” Sanctuary replied. “I assume that the bond you two share is still tenuous at best, so he felt the need to intervene.”
It was only then that Jared became aware of the surrounding destruction. His black eyes went wide as he surveyed the scene. “Oh God, did I do this?”
Sanctuary nodded, his golden eyes examining the small man standing before him. He could still see Tzedakah’s power surging around him. “You will need to learn to control the link between you and the sword so it will not feel the need to supersede your will in the future.”