by N. P. Martin
"Jesus, Frank," I said, taking offense despite myself. "Don’t sugar coat it, will you?"
Frank sighed and held his hands up. "I’m just making sure you understand the situation."
"I think she understands, Frank," Eva said. "I think you made it all crystal clear."
"Don’t make me out to be a bad guy here. I was just saying, that’s all. It doesn’t mean we aren’t going to go through with this mad plan."
"It is a mad plan," I said. "But it’s the only one we’ve got."
No one could argue with that.
"All right," Frank said. "Let’s go turn you into a demon, and hope you don’t try to kill us."
38
A few hours later, I found myself in Frank’s sparsely lit cellar, holding a gold chalice that was filled with nearly a pint of Lucas’ blood, for which he had given his consent to use, though just barely.
Tethered to the floor before me, there was also a small sized goat, though it was nearing the end of its life. The goat was watching Eva as she walked in circles around me in a kind of trance, while she mumbled the strange sounding words to the spell she was using; a spell designed to turn me into a demon, or a half-demon at least. No one was sure how potent the magical transformation would be, nor how much of a demon I would become. We weren’t even sure if it would be possible for me to completely come back from such an insane transformation, just as we were uncertain if we could pull back Josh and the other Nephilim.
To be honest, though, the time for sanity had passed. The only thing that mattered now was survival.
Frank lurked behind me near the stairs. Occasionally, he would hand something to Eva, like the lit candle she was now walking around with, a black candle that smelled a lot like burning meat, its foul smoke filling up the room. I hardly noticed, though, for I was in something of a trance myself since Eva had begun the ritual, which seemed like ages ago. I didn’t know if it was the herbs she was burning, or the words she was speaking, but something was having a strange effect on me. I was becoming weirdly distant from everything, like I’d taken one too many Oxys. A certain level of unreality settled into the proceedings. Things started to become surreal and slightly trippy. I couldn’t help staring at the dark blood in the chalice. Lucas’ ruby life force, which I was about to drink when Eva told me to. It was Lucas’ blood that was the key to the ritual, which required the blood of a high-level demon, which Lucas was, of course. Although the outcome of the ritual couldn’t be completely predicted, Eva did say that the personality of the demon whose blood is drank, would have a bearing on the eventual behavior of the person being demonized. In any case, we would see.
Eva suddenly stopped in front of me. "Give me the chalice," she said in a strange sort of low voice, her huge eyes almost looking through me.
In a dream-like state, I slowly held out the chalice for her to take. Then she took a couple of steps back and carefully put the chalice on the floor. Frank appeared a second later, to hand Eva a long dagger. I already knew what for. This part of the ritual required the person being demonized to brutally murder an innocent. Fucked up, I know, but we were trying to turn me into a demon, not an angel. As Frank often said, sometimes your hands got dipped in innocent blood along the way to getting things done. It’s the way things are, in our world at least.
As we weren’t about to sacrifice a person, we agreed that an animal should suffice. The ritual didn’t specifically state that the sacrifice had to be a person. It merely stated an innocent should be murdered, and looking into the eyes of the goat before me, I was fairly certain it was as innocent as you could get. Murdering the creature in cold blood was the only way to activate the demon blood inside me.
A part of me was completely disgusted with what I was about to do, but that part of me was soon overwhelmed by the ton weight of reality. This ritual represented our last chance to stop Abigor and save the souls of billions. If a goat had to die in the process, then so be it.
I took the knife from Eva as she handed it to me. It felt cold and heavy in my hand as I turned it so the blade was pointing downward. The goat looked at me frightened. It knew what was coming. It also knew there was no escape.
Forgive me…
I plunged the dagger into the goat’s skull first, to give it a quick death. As it fell over, I dropped to my knees and began stabbing it repeatedly until my movements where frenzied and practically out of control. As arcs of blood flew everywhere, I told myself it had to be this way, that brutality was a part of my life now, along with spilling blood and doing hellish things that I didn’t want to do.
This is who I am now, I thought as I kept stabbing until I could stab no more, and I sat back, covered in blood and breathing heavily. The look of horror on Frank’s face said it all.
Eva stepped forward and handed me the chalice. "Drink."
I took the chalice and forced myself to drink what was left of Lucas’ blood, while Eva stood over me, another foul smelling candle in her hand as she uttered more strange words, the words seeming to reach a crescendo as I finished drinking the blood.
When I was done, I dropped the chalice and leaned forward on my hands. My stomach wanted to eject the contents I had just filled it with, but I wouldn’t allow it—there was no way I was about to go through the ritual again. The blood was the essential sauce, which maybe isn’t the best comparison given the circumstances, but you know what I mean:
The blood had to stay down.
As I remained on my hands and knees, it suddenly felt as if the blood in my stomach had started to boil. This was quickly followed by needles shooting into my spine, or at least that’s how it felt. Needles which soon stabbed my skull from within, causing me to grip my head as a scream of pain erupted from my mouth.
Then it seemed like my whole world exploded as a great collision of energy within me collided. A new form of energy was making itself felt, and it was overpowering my grace, to the point where I hardly felt it anymore. All I felt was this new power burning through me. As I fell to the floor and convulsed, it was more out of ecstasy than pain, such was the seductive allure it contained. The line between the two sensations had blurred to the point where they were both the same. My mind was on fire as a form of darkness rushed into me. This wasn’t just some vague kind of darkness, but thee Darkness which filled me up completely, turning my blood cold, and bringing with it a deep sense of malevolence, not to mention an overwhelming need to destroy whatever or whoever was around me.
Which happened to be Frank and Eva, both of whom were standing uneasily as they watched my transformation play out. When I finally looked up at them, they both drew back in horror, and probably not just because I was covered in goat and demon blood. My vision had changed slightly, so no doubt my eyes had as well, perhaps turning black like Josh’s had. The world had taken on a reddish hue, and when I looked at Frank and Eva, I could see their energies flowing through them, including their grace, the sight of which filled me with deep disgust. All I wanted to do was destroy it with the dark energy that now flowed through me.
My lips peeled back into a sneer as I glared at Frank. "Leia," he began as he went to come forward, but raising an arm, I used my new power to telekinetically push Frank away with enough force to slam him back several feet until he hit the wall and fell to the floor, lying there in a semi-conscious daze.
"Frank!" Eva shouted, and then turned to look at me.
But I was already upon her, closing the distance in less time than it took for her to blink. My hand gripped her throat and I lifted her effortlessly off the ground, holding her aloft like some prize trophy, my eyes following the path of her grace around her body to the source in her belly. All I would have to do is puncture her stomach with my fingers and rip out her innards, killing the flow of that offensive light energy.
My fingers pressed against the flesh of Eva’s stomach as she struggled unsuccessfully to free herself from my iron grip. As my nails began to pierce her soft flesh, I smiled with delight as I anticipated the warmth o
f her innards closing around my hand.
"Leia! Stop!" Frank was up and standing there with one hand held out toward me.
My fingers stopped pressing as I turned my head slowly to look at him. To me at that moment, Frank wasn’t someone I cared about. He was just a meat parcel with offensive energy running through it, nothing more.
"You unleashed me," I said in a menacing voice. "Now you will pay the price. Both of you."
I pressed my fingers harder into Eva’s flesh, and this time she screamed in pain, causing me to smile, her agony providing me with a singular pleasure I had never felt before.
"No, Leia, wait!" Frank persisted. "Remember why you’re doing this, think about Josh, about saving him…"
The mention of Josh’s name was like a bolt of electricity going through me, and I froze for a second as a long forgotten memory came bubbling up from somewhere in my mind. The memory was of me holding onto Josh’s hand to stop him from falling down a very deep, and very dark, well. We couldn’t have been any more than five or six, yet somehow I had the strength to pull Josh up so he could get a hold of the edge, and then I helped him haul himself out of the well altogether. I don’t even remember how he managed to fall in the first place, nor how I was able to catch him in time. I just remember holding him there, and thinking that if I let him go, I would never see him again.
Suddenly, I felt that same way now, as if Josh was dangling over a well and only my grip was keeping him from falling into the darkness below, never to be seen again.
"Josh needs you, Leia," Frank said, more softly this time. "We need you, to fight Abigor, remember?"
Stop…they are not the enemy…
A whispering voice in my head. Sounding like me, but strangely not me.
The same voice I heard in that cave back in Hell.
But who did the voice belong to? Was it just my own addled mind talking back to me? Was my mind starting to crack under the strain? Or was there somehow something or someone inside of me? Whatever the case, the voice was right. Frank and Eva were not the enemy.
Abigor was.
The darkness in me retreated as my grace made its presence felt once more. It didn’t take long before it dampened down the dark energy enough for me to think clearly again, and I realized that I was still holding Eva up by the neck. Gasping in slight horror, I let her go and she dropped to her knees, Frank rushing over to see if she was all right. I could only stand there and stare at the blood dripping from my fingers.
But before I could even shake my head at what I’d just done, I felt the darkness push back and try to overcome my grace again. This time, though, I made a concerted effort to keep the darkness at bay, which wasn’t easy since it was so damn strong.
When I looked at Frank, he said, "Don’t let it control you, Leia."
Easier said than done, for I soon found the harder I fought the darkness within me, the harder it seemed to push back. Merely telling myself that I was in control wasn’t enough. The darkness didn’t give a shit.
"Think of Kasey," Eva said.
Upon mention of Kasey’s name, a familiar grief and gut wrenching guilt overcame me, and at the same time, the dark power in me retreated, held back by my rising sense of humanity. That’s when I realized what Eva already knew— that emotion could be used to control the darkness within me, especially those with positive sentiments. Kasey’s smiling face, for instance, which gave me a sense of joy, helped to drive back the darkness further, until eventually I could control it myself through conscious will, for the time being at least.
I was well aware that the darkness in me was growing stronger by the minute, though, so I didn’t bank on keeping control of it for too long.
"I’m okay," I said to Frank and Eva, who both stood looking warily at me. "I have control of it, for now at least. I suggest we don’t hang around, though."
Frank nodded. "I agree."
I looked at Eva. "I’m sorry, Eva."
Eva shook her head as she held her hand over her stomach, blood leaking through her fingers. "I’ll heal, don’t worry about it. We all knew the risks, right?"
I nodded. "I guess so."
"We should gear up," Frank said. "Abigor is probably at the cemetery by now. Shit, for all we know, he’s opened the Hell Gate already."
"Well," I said. "As we don’t appear to be overrun by demons yet, I’d say that he hasn’t, but if he has, then we need to close it again."
Frank smiled at me as he shook his head. "I love your optimism."
Smiling back, I said, "Stay alive, keep fighting, right?"
Now Eva was smiling. "Indeed, though perhaps we should now test the Demon Blade, to see if you can really tap its power."
The Demon Blade was on the bench behind Frank, and he lifted it and it handed it to me. I was hesitant about taking it at first, because I was afraid that Abigor was lying about the sword’s power, and that nothing would happen when I touched it. But just looking at the sword as Frank held it out, I knew there was something different about it, at least to me. I sensed a definite power in the blade that I didn’t sense before.
My sense was confirmed when I finally grasped the sword myself. The second I did, the darkness in me reacted by rushing to the surface, as if the sword itself was a conduit for it, no real difference to the Watcher Knife and the grace inside me. As I held the sword with both hands, the red V in the center began to glow a radiant crimson, the dark power in me activating it somehow. The sword itself also grew in length, extending by another foot at least as it increased in width as well. Now the Demon Blade was much heavier in my hands, its power flowing into me as mine flowed into the steel.
As this combining of power continued, Frank suddenly snatched the sword from my hands, perhaps sensing a loss of control beginning to show in me. "That’s enough of that," he said.
I glared at him angrily for a moment, the darkness in me swirling agitatedly in protest. "Give it back," I growled.
Eva stepped in front of me. "Connect with your grace again, Leia," she said gently. "Come back to the light."
I stared at her, confused for a moment as the two powers fought for supremacy within me, light against dark. Thanks to Eva, though, the light was able to regain control again.
"Shit," I said, shaking my head. "Maybe…maybe you should hold onto the sword until we get to the cemetery. I don’t think I can control myself otherwise."
"Good idea," Frank said as he placed the sword on the bench behind him again. "At least we know it works."
"But against Abigor?" Eva said.
"I guess we’ll see soon enough."
I left them to gear up while I went upstairs to my room, firstly to quickly change clothes as I was covered in blood, and secondly to see Lucas before I left on my suicide mission. He was still barely conscious as I kneeled on the floor next to the bed and laid my hand over his. "We have to go now," I said in a near whisper.
Lucas’ eyes opened almost fully as he managed to focus on me. "You got this," he whispered back, bringing tears to my eyes.
I really hoped he was right.
39
I went back down to the cellar to find Frank and Eva ready to go, both of them armed to the teeth. Frank even had a Katana strapped to his back. "Here," he said, handing me the Demon Blade, but this time the sword was wrapped in a piece of canvas. "As long as you don’t touch it, you should be fine."
I hesitantly took the wrapped blade from him, holding it for a second to see if I felt anything. There was a definite undercurrent of power, but as I wasn’t making physical contact with the sword, the darkness in me didn’t have the same reaction as it did before, and I was able to maintain control.
As we moved down the hallway toward the front door, I stopped by the bedroom and looked in on Lucas one last time. He lay still in the bed, his chest rising and falling gently. He would be fine, there was no doubt in my mind about that.
It was the rest of the world I was worried about now.
When I went outside, I found Frank
and Eva standing staring out across the valley to the city beyond. It didn’t take me long to see what they were both staring at.
"Holy shit," I said quietly as I stood beside them.
"Yep," Frank said. "Holy shit."
Directly above the city, some sort of maelstrom had formed, which all but shrouded the whole city in darkness, even though there were at least a couple of hours of daylight still left. Black and gray clouds swirled around each other, occasionally illuminated by forks of red lightning.
"Does that mean the Hell Gate has been opened?" I asked.
Frank shook his head. "I don’t know, but if he gate hasn’t been opened yet, it soon will be."
"It’s a gathering of power," Eva said. "We should really hurry."
As Frank drove, she began to flick through the channels on the radio.
"What are you looking for?" I asked her.
"I’m checking to see if my local government contacts heeded the warning I gave them earlier."
"What warning?"
"To initiate a citywide lockdown, what else?"
"What reason did you give? There’s a monster in town?"
Eva shook her head at my glibness. "A terrorist attack, of course. Or at least, that’s how my contacts would’ve translated it for the public. Privately, they know the truth."
When Eva found a local news channel, she turned up the radio to hear the announcement being made, and we all listened intently to the male voice reading it.
"…Once again, the city is currently under attack by terrorists, and government officials are warning all citizens to stay indoors. Please remain at home, lock all your doors and keep your lighting at a minimum. Government agents and the National Guard are currently dealing with the threat, and would like to assure the public that it will be over soon. Once again, get off the streets and stay indoors, so that emergency response teams can do their jobs…"