It Happened One Doomsday

by Laurence MacNaughton

  At the outside end of each pit lay a bleached-white horse skull, facing out. The one at Greyson’s feet had something painted on the wide arch of bone between its hollow eye sockets.

  Dru crept closer until she could get a clear look.

  A pair of scales. Just like the one painted under Hellbringer’s hood. Just like the one that had glowed on Greyson’s hands, after he had become the demon.

  He stood motionless and vacant, as if mesmerized. Dru backed away from him.

  Rane’s metal feet rang softly on the gravel as she circled the ceremony site, looking at the other horse skulls. “This one has a symbol of a bow and arrow on it,” she said, pointing, then went to the next one. “A sword.” When she reached the last one, she cocked her head. “Looks like . . . fangs? I dunno. Mean anything to you?”

  Scales. Bow. Sword. Fangs. Dru shook her head.

  Rane pointed to the gravel pit in front of the horse skull with the sword symbol. “The gravel there looks darker. Like maybe it’s been dug up recently.”

  “Don’t touch it,” Dru warned her. “Not yet. Give me a sec.”

  “We don’t have a sec.” Rane shot a worried look at Greyson. “Something seriously bad is about to happen.”

  “Just let me think.” Scales. Bow. Sword. Fangs. The symbols whirled around in her head. She couldn’t put it together. What were they? She burned with frustration.

  Scales. Bow. Sword. Fangs. Dru pressed her fingertips into her forehead, thinking.

  Four horse skulls.

  Four horses.

  “Dru?”

  “Still thinking!”

  Rane bent down, one hand hovering over the disturbed gravel pit. “What if I dig this up? Will it break Greyson’s curse?”

  It hit Dru then, like being dropped into icy water. The cold realization washed over her, as impossible as it was, stealing her breath away.

  “Oh, Greyson.” She studied his blank face, suddenly wishing she didn’t know. When she reached up and laid a hand on the scratchy stubble of his jaw, he blinked, startled.

  “What?” He looked all around, at the pits, at Rane, and finally at Dru. An impenetrable worry haunted his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  In a flash, the words came back to Dru from her childhood.

  “‘When he opened the third seal, I looked, and there was a black horse,’” Dru whispered. Her head felt suddenly, nauseatingly light. The vast cave seemed to spin around her.

  Greyson caught her arm and steadied her. “Dru? What’s going on?”

  Gently, she took Greyson’s hand and turned it over. The skin was rough and thick from too many hours in the garage, but there was no trace of the demon’s burning glyph. “The rider had a pair of scales in his hand,” she whispered.

  Greyson frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “The book of Revelation.” Tears blurred her vision. “It’s not just any curse afflicting you, Greyson. That’s why this has been so hard to beat. I’m not sure we can beat it.”

  His eyebrows drew together, an unspoken question.

  “Greyson, I don’t know how to save you. You’re . . .” She swallowed down the hard lump in her throat and looked straight into his red eyes. “You’re becoming one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

  He stared at her, the disbelief in his face gradually transforming to confusion, then horror. Despite his tough exterior, she could tell her words had shaken him to the core. “What happens next?”

  “Doomsday. The end of the world.”

  The muscles in his jaw rippled, and then he quickly shook his head. “Tell me you know how to stop it.”

  “If I’m right, that means there are four Horsemen. Maybe if we find the others, maybe we can cure all of them at once. That could conceivably break the curse.”

  “Other Horsemen?” Rane straightened up, her steely gaze boring into Greyson. “How are we supposed to find the rest of them?”

  With a blood-chilling roar, the gravel pit at Rane’s feet erupted in a spray of dirt. Red scaly claws shot up from below and latched onto her ankles. Rane let out a startled cry as the claws dragged her feetfirst down into the gravel, like quicksand.

  23

  DEVIL IN THE DARK

  As the scaly claws dragged Rane into the pit, her metal fingers clawed into the dirt, digging long, parallel troughs. But they did nothing to slow her down.

  Dru stood transfixed with horror. She wanted to run and help, but a cold rush of fear froze her to the spot. She couldn’t move. She could only stare in stunned terror as the pit of gravel swallowed Rane’s feet, then her calves, and then her thighs.

  Greyson didn’t hesitate. He charged directly across the ceremonial site toward Rane. A fiery glow lit him up from below. His footsteps left burning imprints on the ground, ruddy glowing footprints crawling with yellow points of light. Waves of magic raced up his body, clinging to him. But he didn’t seem to notice.

  Greyson’s presence released some kind of infernal energy from the unholy ground. But what would it do to him?

  He grabbed both of Rane’s arms. His face contorted with effort as he dug his heels deep into the dirt. The unholy energy slithered over his body, wrapping around him.

  With a breathy grunt, Greyson heaved. Rane’s metal body went taut, like a rope in a tug-of-war, suspended for a moment between the pit and Greyson’s bulging arms.

  Rane, wide-eyed, looked up at Greyson wreathed in flames, then glanced over her shoulder to Dru for help. “Dru!” she yelled. “Problem!”

  “Hang on!” Dru jammed the torch upright into the dirt, set down her massively heavy purse, and dumped out the crystals she had just gathered from the cabinet. Green vivianite. Violet amethyst. Black tourmaline. Where was her galena?

  Greyson let out a tortured groan, baring his teeth. With a final pull, he wrenched Rane free of the gravel. The two of them tumbled across the ground.

  A spray of rocks erupted from the pit. With a screeching roar, a red scaly creature clawed its way out of the pit. Hunched, reptilian, bowlegged, it looked nothing like the human being that it had probably once been. A long, wickedly toothed snout jutted out from its wedge-shaped head. A line of spines ran down its back to a tail that twitched with a life of its own, ending in a viciously curved claw that gleamed like a newly sharpened blade.

  With another roar, the demon charged, knocking Greyson to the ground again just as he got to his feet.

  In a heartbeat, Rane vaulted onto the creature’s saw-toothed spine and hooked her metal arms around its neck. She braced one foot and yanked its head back.

  The thing’s scaly back arched, and it reached behind to grab at Rane. Its claws raked across her metal skin, drawing sparks.

  Dru tore apart the pile of crystals, frantic with frustration. Just as she was about to give up, she spotted the cube of galena gleaming happily up at her.

  She plucked the shiny lead-colored cube from the dirt and sprinted around the outside of the ceremonial site, taking care to stay well clear of the other trenches and their painted horse skulls.

  Before she could reach the creature, its tail snaked up and wrapped around Rane’s neck.

  With a vicious tug, it broke her grip. As Rane tried to recover, the creature raised one powerful leg and kicked her to the ground.

  Then it turned its attention to Dru.

  One cold look from those fiercely glowing green eyes made Dru pull up short. A wet, breathy growl boiled up from the thing’s throat.

  Suddenly, the cube of galena in her hand felt completely inadequate.

  A long, forked tongue slipped out between the creature’s grinning teeth and flicked the air, as if tasting it.

  As it stalked toward her, it moved to step over Rane’s body. But it didn’t get far.

  Rane stood up directly in the creature’s path and slammed her metal forehead into its scaly snout, momentarily stunning it. Then she stepped back, widening her stance, and hauled back one titanium fist. With blinding speed, she twisted her body and drove h
er fist straight into the creature’s body. The blow rang out with a sound like metal striking concrete.

  The impact flung the demon back into a bookshelf, knocking it down in an explosion of pages and dust.

  With one hand, Rane pulled Greyson to his feet. “Time to go!”

  Dru ran back to her purse and scooped up the crystals, careful to leave the galena sitting on top, then plucked the torch out of the dirt. Its flame sputtered as they ran for the stairs, threatening to blow out and strand them in pitch black.

  They made it almost halfway up the steps before the creature emerged from the darkness. Its acid-green eyes burned as it climbed the steps behind them with a clatter of sharp claws. Its toothy jaw opened wide, as if waiting for a tasty morsel to pop into its mouth.

  Dru dropped the torch. It guttered against the stone, leaving them in a shrinking circle of dying light. She grabbed the cube of galena tight in one hand, and with the other she fumbled for Greyson’s hand, finding it only at the last second.

  Touching him unlocked a torrent of magical energy within her. It surged up her arm and shuddered through her fingertips into the galena.

  The crystal flared with a cold blue glow, as if spotlights had been trained on it from all directions, reflecting off its pitted, mirrored faces. A high-pitched ringing sound whined in her ears. Loud, sharp, and pure.

  At the burst of light, the creature halted its charge. It raised its scaly arms against the surreal glow and cringed behind its gnarled claws. Between its thick fingers, one wide, snakelike eye peeked at the shining crystal.

  “Keep climbing,” Dru said breathlessly. “Right now.”

  Greyson backed up a step, then another. She matched his movements. She didn’t dare take her eyes off the creature, though the galena’s burning light made her eyes water.

  As Rane charged up the stairs, Dru kept one hand tight in Greyson’s, guiding him up one step at a time. She held the shining crystal high.

  The creature climbed after them, pacing them.

  Rane’s brassy voice echoed down. “Dru! We’ve got a Mustang!”

  Dru risked a puzzled glance back, catching a glimpse of Rane’s silhouette at the top of the stairs, dark against the stark, empty whiteness of the doorway to the garage. Then she was gone.

  From above, an aggressive rumble surged to life. The sudden noise rolled down the stone steps like a crack of thunder.

  As they neared the top, Dru finally identified the sound.

  An engine. An old, powerful one, like Hellbringer’s. Its heavy exhaust notes thudded through the air like the beating wings of some giant primordial creature, pierced by the sharp squeal of tires.

  “Oh,” Dru whispered to herself. “Mustang.”

  24

  CARDIO FOR THE CASUAL SORCERESS

  The sound of squealing tires ended in a cruel impact of metal, sending a jolt of cold fear shooting through Dru’s body. Without thinking, she let go of Greyson and ran up the last few steps. “Rane!”

  Instantly, the galena in her hand dimmed from the glow of a brilliant spotlight to the murky blush of a nightlight. Greyson let out a grunt of surprise.

  The creature below them on the stairs shrieked with triumph. Its claws clattered up toward them.

  The garage beyond the doorway blazed with blinding sunlight from one of its hangar-style doors, now open to the desert sun. The vast white interior was broken only by the aggressive red outlines of an old Ford Mustang, its tire treads caked with the sand it had tracked in from outside.

  Through the windshield, Dru could easily see that no one sat at the wheel. Yet the engine revved with an evil, earsplitting rumble.

  The Mustang looked pristine, except for a cavernous dent in its front fender that quickly straightened itself out. The red paint bled where it had cracked, smoothing over to become whole and flawless once again. The chrome trim eased itself back into place.

  Across the garage, Rane rose unsteadily to her feet, glaring at the car.

  Her whole body had taken on the mottled brown-and-white smoothness of her polished flint ring. As she turned to face the Mustang, she planted her feet with a sound like falling rocks.

  The engine revved.

  Rane shot a warning glance at Dru where she stood just inside the secret door, then nodded almost imperceptibly toward the open garage door. Telling her to make a break for it.

  Dru shook her head no. Rane would not face this alone.

  Rane sidestepped away from Dru and beckoned the car with one outstretched finger. “Hey, rust bucket. Bring it.”

  The Mustang revved in place, hood shaking, rear wheels spinning up stinking clouds of burned rubber. It launched straight at Rane. She dodged out of the way, rolling on one shoulder to come up behind the car.

  Greyson charged up the steps, the creature close behind him, and pushed Dru through the doorway into the garage. The green-eyed demon flew up the stairs and boiled out of the darkness, claws outstretched.

  “Wait!” Dru turned back and aimed a kick at the halite crystal she’d left in the corner of the doorway, sending it flying into the darkness. With a sizzle of invisible energy, the warding spell on the door slammed shut. A blast of static-filled air blew Dru’s hair back.

  A split-second later, the creature slammed head-on into the invisible warding spell. It flattened out against the unseen barrier, inches away, its scaly hide pressed up against the ward as if it was a pane of glass. Blinding arcs of energy, no doubt powerful enough to kill a human, streaked out from all edges of the doorway and converged on the demon, driving it back.

  “Hah!” Dru backed away and jabbed a finger in the demon’s direction. “Gotcha!”

  The garage filled with the echoes of the Mustang’s engine as it revved higher and higher. But the car didn’t move. Rane now stood directly behind it, motionless as an Egyptian monolith, every muscle bulging as she lifted the Mustang by its chrome rear bumper.

  Her face darkened into a mask of strain as the car’s rear wheels spun uselessly in a blur of black rubber and white letters, suspended a few inches over the concrete floor. Her cheeks bulged. Her lips puckered with the effort, revealing clenched teeth.

  Glancing from the demonic Mustang on one side to the fanged creature trapped on the other, Dru racked her brain for a solution. This time, she didn’t have any spray paint. But she did have Greyson’s potion in the Prius. Could she use that against the Mustang?

  Rane’s arms shook with the effort. “Can’t . . . hold on.”

  On the other side of the invisible barrier behind them, the demon shook itself off and pressed its scaly hands together. A glyph glowed on its right hand like a hot ember. Not the symbol of scales that had appeared on Greyson’s hands, but the symbol of a sword.

  An ominous flicker of firelight shone through the demon’s claws. With a flare of light, a long blade composed entirely of flames grew from the demon’s hands.

  Baleful, reptilian eyes locked on Greyson. The demon drew back its sword and swung at the invisible barrier.

  Dru pushed Greyson aside just as blinding crackles of electricity from the sword’s impact shattered the spell into a fountain of fiery fragments. A piercing sizzle cut through the garage.

  “Come on!” Dru ran out through the open garage door, hoping Greyson would follow. “We need the potion!”

  The demon’s chilling howl followed her out into the brilliant sunlight. She flew down the length of the sandy driveway, toward the diminutive white lump of Nate’s car parked in front of the mansion. Her breath burned in her lungs. Her footsteps crunched in the sand.

  It took every bit of Dru’s resolve not to stop and go back for Rane. But they had to get the potion first, while the Mustang was immobilized. It was their only chance.

  In the flat distance, two dust clouds rose on the horizon, drawing closer.

  The other two Horsemen, Dru realized. Coming after Greyson, to complete the circle. To gather together the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

  Greyson opened the driver’s
door and started the car.

  “Take us back into the garage,” she said as she got in next to him. As Greyson whipped the car around toward the garage, she picked up the skull-shaped potion bottle from beneath the passenger seat. “If I pour this into the Mustang’s gas tank, it could have the same effect on the car as it has on you. Break the demonic connection.”

  “One hell of a carburetor cleaner,” Greyson muttered.

  “Hell is right.”

  Ahead of them, the driverless red Mustang suddenly shot out of the dark mouth of the garage, dragging Rane. Her fingers were locked onto the chrome back bumper, flint feet scraping on the ground, showering sparks behind her.

  “Time for plan B,” Greyson said. “If the airbags go off, just push them off of you.”

  “Airbags?” Dru shot a terrified glance at him, but his gaze was locked intensely on the oncoming red Mustang.

  Greyson hunched over the wheel, one hand steering, the other reaching for the emergency brake. “Seat belt!” he barked.

  Dru yanked her seat belt into place. Just as it clicked home, the Mustang veered straight for them. Its chrome grill flashed, sunlight gleaming from its headlights.

  Before the red car could ram them head-on, Greyson swerved the little Prius out to the side, then whipped back in tight, striking the Mustang on its back corner.

  The Mustang spun away into the sand, flinging Rane through the air. She hit the ground and rolled, blending into the rocks as she tumbled.

  Greyson kept the little car drifting sideways across the sand until it slid to a stop alongside Rane. “Get in!” he shouted through the closed window, making Dru’s left ear ring.

  Outside, Rane stood up, tottered dizzily, and fell over again.

  Wincing, Dru unbuckled her seat belt and burst out of the car. In two quick steps, she was at Rane’s side. She tried to lift her, but in stone form, the woman weighed a ton. Maybe literally. “Turn human!” Dru begged her.