Redemption (Ascendancy Legacy 6)

by Bates, Bradford

  “One hundred,” he mused, rubbing his chin. “That is more than I ever expected. We might win this thing yet.”

  “So what is the plan?”

  Adam made sure everyone was paying attention. “I’m going to bring down the dome. That is going to sideline me for a bit. Once it’s down, our priority has to be destroying the gate they are building. Aside from that, it’s kill every demon you see.”

  “Adam, how do you feel about sending us over in a helicopter while everyone else is attacking? If we let our forces engage first, we might be able to drop in close to the gate before they are expecting us.”

  “It could work, but your team would have to be small.”

  I looked around the room. “I have a few people in mind.”

  Adam smiled. “Then when Alby gets here with her forces, we will put the plan into motion. Be ready to go.”

  “Adam, we have one more thing to discuss.”

  “Enlighten me?”

  “If the tide turns in our favor and Lucky flees, we need to be able to get into hell and end him once and for all. I think the demon stone might be able to open a portal for us to get him. No matter what happens, we can’t let him live.”

  “Did you call him Lucky?”

  “Jesus, are you listening to what I’m saying? I need the stone.”

  “And you will have it, but answer my question.” His eyes burned with intensity before he turned away and reached into a silver-lined box behind him. Turning back toward me, he tossed me the stone, still waiting for my answer.

  “Yes, he told me his name was Lucky.”

  “I wonder . . . It couldn’t be the same man.”

  He was mumbling to himself now, and his eyes were closed. He was searching for a memory. I wondered what was so important that he would tune out our plans for the battle to try and find. His eyes snapped open, and he smiled.

  “Tell me, have you seen a stone or a gem on this demon?”

  “I have. He wears it around his neck.”

  “That will be your key to defeating him. No one else can do it, Jackson. This battle is only for you.” He reached out and grabbed my arm. His fingers tightened like a vice around it. “Whatever you do, do not touch it. If Lucky falls and the gem is still intact, destroy it. Whatever it takes, the stone cannot survive this.”

  He let go of my arm. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

  “Good.” He turned back toward Henry and started working on the rest of the plans for the battle.

  I gathered my friends and parents around me. “Who’s excited to jump out of a helicopter?” No one raised their hands. Well, damn, I thought they might think it was kind of cool.

  “Last time we jumped out of a plane, it didn’t work out so well,” April said.

  “Sure it did. We stopped the demons, closed a portal to hell, and found out my dad was alive. I’d call that a win.” They all gave me a look that I was crazy, or maybe just overly optimistic. “Ok, let’s just say it’s going to go better this time.”

  “I can work with that,” Marcus chimed in.

  “I’m going to go after Lucky and try and separate him from everyone else.” I looked around the circle of determined faces. “I need you guys to handle the rest.”

  “We will take care of the gate,” John said.

  I looked over at Sarah, and she nodded in confirmation.

  “I guess that leaves us with the female demon and anything else she can throw at us,” April said.

  Marcus and Britta gave her a look. That let me know they all understood their spots. John turned to me.

  “How are you going to go after Lucky. Can’t he control you too?”

  “For some reason, he can’t, but that is why I need to separate him, if I can. I don’t want him sending any of you after me. So if you see him, get away from him quickly.”

  This time, everyone looked grim. John and April looked like they might throw up. I knew what they were feeling. He had been inside of my head once, and I hated it. Without my wolf, I’d be dead right now. If I could do my part, this would all work out. “He isn’t the bravest sort. If the battle turns in our favor, he’ll run. When that happens, I have to go after him.”

  “I’m coming with you,” April said.

  I met her eyes. It was one of the hardest things I had to do. “You can’t. None of you can.” She was about to protest, so I held up my hand, hoping she would give me a chance to finish speaking. “He’d just be able to use you against me.” Her mouth closed, but I knew she still didn’t like it. I knew it because I didn’t like it. The last thing I wanted to do was be separated from the people who made me stronger.

  A portal shimmered to life behind us, and Alby came out decked out in intricate silver armor. In her hand was the spear she had used to defeat the changeling. A hundred fey warriors moved out of the portal behind her, followed by a slightly disheveled inspector. I waved to Alby, and she shot me a smile and a wink before striding into the command tent. This was it. The battle for our planet would start in the next few minutes.

  Helicopters were loud. Sure, you might have known that already because people covered their ears with headphones in the movies so they could talk, or because of the way the wind generated from the blades tugged at people's clothes on TV. But until you had been standing next to a high-powered helicopter getting ready for takeoff, you just couldn’t understand how loud they were. It made the twin propeller plane I had ridden on seem like the noisemaker you turned on at night to sleep.

  All of us were piled inside. John was going to help my mom land. The rest of us were on our own. We didn’t have headgear in the back, and the side doors were open, so from here on out, it was visual cues only. The speed of the blades picked up again, and we were off.

  We were flying toward the purple dome when a white light ran up the side of it and then crackled all around it, like the inside of a plasma globe. The white lights seemed to fracture the purple dome. The purple light blinked a few times and then went out. As the light extinguished, our chopper angled forward and picked up speed.

  Our ground forces were already charging forward. I could see them clashing with the demons as we passed the edge of where the dome had been. Magic was being tossed around, and the silver armor of the fey stood out against the darkness. The red light in the cargo hold blinked, letting us know it was almost time to depart. I looked at my family and saw a lot of grim faces. We could do this. We had to.

  The light turned green, and I watched all of them jump out of the chopper. I waited until I could see Lucky, and then it was my turn to jump. This was it; the lives of everyone I knew and all of humanity rested in the balance. Could I really defeat Lucky once and for all?

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Alby

  Jackson’s helicopter had just taken off. I watched it as it hovered for a moment, ready to take them to the center of the battlefield as soon as the fight started. Part of me wanted to be in that group, wanted the glory that came with destroying the gate that the demons were trying to build. But my place was here, with my warriors. I had five men and five women standing shoulder to shoulder with me, ready to charge as soon as the dome fell. If I died today, I wanted to do it for my people.

  Adam’s plan was a good one. We would attack from ten points around the dome. I had sent ten of my warriors to back up ten of the Gifted at each location. Now we really would get to find out just how much every one of the Gifted soldiers was worth. No one had any idea how many demons were waiting for us inside, but Adam expected us to be outnumbered by at least five to one. I liked those odds. The demons wouldn’t even know what hit them.

  Bright white light raced up the edge of the dome and then raced back down the side, forking like lightening. The purple light flickered and then faded. I let out a scream and ran forward. The warriors to either side of me did the same. This was what our knights of old used to do before we had hidden ourselves away from the world. The demons hadn’t faced an army of fey in centuries.

  T
he ground erupted in front of us, and huge rocks were thrown into the horde rushing to meet us. At least our magic-wielding friends weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. The rocks made small gaps in the tightly pressed demons. We charged into them together. My spear flared with green light as I stabbed the first demon. Power surged into my muscles, and I spun, sending the corpse flying off of my spear. The body flew into the pressing horde, slowing them momentarily.

  Claws raked against my silver armor, and the demon howled in pain. “You should have known better,” I shouted as I turned, bringing the butt of my spear up between the creature’s legs before stabbing him in the chest. I twirled the spear around me, creating room, and then thrust it into any openings that I saw.

  This weapon was different than the ones my warriors used. It had been handed down for generations. The spear was infused with old magic. I was starting to see why our people had been so feared. With each demon that died on the end of my spear, I felt invigorated. Stronger and faster than before. The demons were lucky that we didn’t have a hundred such weapons with us now.

  My body fell into a rhythm of controlled mayhem. I was destruction incarnate. The demons fell around me, and I thought of Shalana. Without her taking the time to teach me, I never would have been able to stand against so many. These demons weren’t enough for me now. I needed something more.

  A roar came from behind me. I couldn’t tell you the actual direction. I had become disoriented with all of the killing. A massive demon charged toward me. It ran on all four feet, and its head had a single horn jutting from it. It kind of looked like a rhino. It batted demons and fey to the side. This one knew who the real threat was, and it wanted blood.

  The spear glowed in my hand, and I ran to meet the creature’s charge. The giant horn lowered, and I jumped in the air. The tip of my spear flashed against the darkness, and then I was running over the demon’s back. I landed behind it in a crouch. As I stood, my spear found three more demons, and they all fell lifelessly to the ground within seconds.

  The rhino turned, and its horn hung on by a thread. I could see cold hard hatred in the creature’s eyes. It screamed. It was a sound of pain and fury in one. It stood on two legs and then morphed into a more human-like creature. Now with two arms, it ripped the horn free from its nose. It jammed the bone onto its right hand and started running toward me again.

  It would have been nice to meet the demon’s charge in a one-on-one fight. I would have liked to know how we would have done. As it was so often in war, we were separated as the battlefield shifted. Several more demons fell from the tip of my spear before a sightline to the massive demon opened up again. He was leaning over one of my warriors. He had a silver spear through his shoulder, but his horn had been shoved through the center of my warrior’s chest.

  I couldn’t let that stand. A fury took hold of me, one that I had never felt before. I ignored everything that was happening around me and just ran forward. The demon turned at the last moment flicking the corpse of one of my people aside. The tip of my spear found the center of his chest and burst through the back.

  The demon looked at me, trying to tear the spear free, but the wood only burned his hands. “Impossible,” he gurgled.

  “I’ll remember that when I’m sitting on my throne with your horn mounted above the mantle.” I pulled the spear free and brought the blade down on the demon’s neck, severing his head. It was always better to make sure they couldn’t get back up again. I turned to survey the battlefield. My warriors could handle the lesser demons without help. I needed to find another challenge. It took me a moment, but one head stood out above all the others. I took off at a run, hoping that I didn’t miss out on all the fun.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Sarah

  When John let me go, I rolled out of his arms, absorbing the landing. As I stood up, my flesh ripped again, and the change was on me. By the time he took his first step past me, I had finished. Nothing was going to stand in the way of me achieving my goal; our son was counting on us.

  John used his magic to destroy the demons rushing in from the sides. He left me to clear a path in front of us. It felt good to be in a real battle again. I hadn’t seen one on this scale since my childhood, and I was too young to fight then. I didn’t even bother to pull out my sword. I just cut our path using my claws and teeth. We broke through the outer ring of demons surrounding the massive lawn, giving us a clear shot to the gate.

  Demons were still climbing over it, working to finish its progress before we could stop them. John turned around and sent a massive wave of earth magic through the demons behind us. Most of them fell to the ground, but I didn’t know if it would buy us the time we needed. He sent a fireball toward the gate, and the magic bounced off of the structure with no result. It did manage to singe a few of the demons working on it, sending them falling to their deaths.

  His fireball also managed to get the attention of the two demons guarding the gate. They turned toward us almost simultaneously. They were huge. If I had to guess, I would say at least fifteen feet tall. The two demons were covered in steel armor from head to toe, but there were gaps. It almost looked as if they had beaten the armor into place as they wore it, instead of it being crafted for them. One of them had a giant mace in each hand, and the other one had a flail with a morning star, and a shield.

  “You got the one with the shield,” I growled at John.

  “Oh, goodie,” he snapped back.

  I understood exactly what he was thinking. Not more than a few days out of hell, and your wife has you take the big one in a fight. I was hoping he would find some way to get rid of the shield. If he could do that, he might be able to win. I moved off to the left, picking up a cement flower holder as I went. Both of them started to move toward John until I launched the flower pot at my target.

  The cement pot broke over his shoulder armor and bounced off his helmet. I heard him grunt something to his partner that might have been I’ll be quick, and then he was running toward me. So fifteen-foot-tall demons encased in armor didn’t think I would be much of a challenge. Or maybe he just didn’t realize I had a sword.

  The katana slid easily from the sheath across my back. The blade was nearly six feet long, and the grip another two. The thing weighed close to three hundred pounds. It had been crafted for me by the Brotherhood, an ancient order of human priests who fought against the vampires. The blade glowed slightly gold as I held it out in front of me.

  The demon hadn’t paused in his charge at the sight of the blade. Just like I expected, all muscle and no brains. I’d seen this blade cut through steel before. Hopefully it would do the same now. A growl escaped my muzzle as I dodged to the side. Both maces slammed into the ground where I had been standing. The demon spun quickly, flinging one mace toward me off of the rebound. I slipped under the attack, spinning in a circle with my blade extended. I felt it hit him, and he crumpled to the side. The blade caught for a moment and then slipped free.

  A quick jump backward put some space between us. A few of the lesser demons thought I was distracted enough to attack. They were wrong. I killed all three of them in seconds before turning back to my real opponent. Blood was dripping from a wound on his side. He was just standing there staring at it. It made me wonder if he had ever been hurt before. The ragged tear in the metal made me wonder if it had bowed inward, making it hurt him every time he moved.

  A snarl escaped his lips, and then he was charging toward me again. If the wound pained him, he wasn’t showing it now. This time, he came in low, crossing his maces and then ripping them back apart. The move might have crushed me if I had still been standing there. Instead, I jumped onto his shoulders and leaped from them, turning around in the air and bringing my sword down with all the force I could muster.

  The demon howled in pain as my sword ripped a slash across his back. He spun, trying to hit me with a mace, but I had already moved away. I was getting ready to attack again when he threw one of the maces at me. The attack
had caught me off guard. I tried to dodge, but the mace still clipped my shoulder, making the arm useless and sending me tumbling to the ground. I used the momentum to roll backward and then strafed to the side as soon as I was on my feet.

  The sequence of moves made me look almost clairvoyant as the mace crashed to the ground I had just been occupying. It was luck, really. I could have just as easily gone the wrong way and been hit again. Years of actual fighting had made my luck a little better than it should have been, but even I made mistakes. Hence the useless arm, although those wounds were rapidly healing. I’d be back in the game in no time. I’d have to keep an eye out for flying maces in the future. The demon picked up his mace, and I spared a quick glance toward John.

  He seemed to be handling his own. The demon had been separated from his shield, and a few lessers were stuck to the side of the house with it. John had never been one to waste an opportunity, but still, that was impressive as hell.

  I turned back to see another mace flying at me. I managed to dodge this one, but only because it was already an off-center throw. While I was healing, the demon had been bleeding. His steps looked clumsy and erratic, but that could have just been a ruse. I tested him by running forward and poking him a few times with the sword. It wasn’t how the blade was designed to be used, but it let me know he wasn’t faking.

  The demon couldn’t keep up anymore, and I couldn’t waste the time. John might need my help, and while we were screwing around, the demons were still building their realm gate. The demon swung the giant mace at me, and I lopped off his hand at the wrist. He moved the stump up to his eye level and looked at it. He had to be wondering what went wrong. He didn’t have long to wonder as my blade slid through the eyehole in his helmet. He fell to the ground in a heap. I turned and started running toward John. He was in trouble.

  John was being crushed under the foot of the other demon as I sprinted across the battlefield. Britta turned and fired at him, but her bullets only bounced off his armor. The demon didn’t even bother to look up. John’s shield was holding, but he wouldn’t last much longer. I wasn’t going to lose him again, not this time, and not so soon after I had finally gotten him back.