“As you say, Lord,” she whispered. As she vanished, she offered a silent prayer to me, which twisted my stomach into knots and dropped me to my knees. Petra helped me to my feet, concern on her face, but I waved it away. I’d need to talk with Jeal later about not praying to me.
We crested the hill and looked down upon the Devil’s Altar. It was situated in a clearing maybe thirty feet across. The trees in the area were warped and grew away from the rock, as if trying to get away from it. The altar itself was made up of a series of large, flat stones that had been cleared of snow. Deep red streaks in the rock were plainly visible from here. Said streaks were just the result of natural mineral deposits, but it didn’t take much imagination to view those streaks as bloodstains. I dismissed all thoughts of geology from my mind as I took in the small group of undead that were looking up at us.
“Herb,” I whispered, “what can you tell us?”
Herb’s eyes were glowing orange orbs in the fading sunlight. “The three off to the left are wights,” he said. “The fourth one to the right is…” He squinted. “I think it’s called a skadegamutc.”
“Okay, that’s a new one for me.”
“It’s a creature from Wabanaki legends,” Herb explained. “The literal translation is ‘ghost-witch.’”
“So Croatoan raised himself a magic user. Lovely. What can it do?”
Herb frowned. “It depends on which legend you read. Some say they could throw hexes, others say they could teleport, others have them blighting plants.”
“So we don’t know for sure,” I said flatly.
“We don’t know for sure,” Herb replied.
“This day just gets better and better. Though if it can teleport, that would explain how Croatoan got out here so fast, and why we don’t see any tracks in the snow leading up to the Altar.” I dropped my voice and whispered, “Jeal, go.” A rush of wind brushed my face as she took back to the air, and I turned my attention back to the clearing.
“Vincent Corinthos,” Croatoan called. “As much as I enjoy standing around in this picturesque area, we have business to discuss.”
I looked around at my companions. “We do?” I called back.
Even though he didn’t have a physical form, I got the distinct impression Croatoan was rolling his eyes at me. “Yes. Your lovely friend here wishes to speak with you.”
“Vincent,” Kristin called, “stay back. It’s a trap.”
“Of course it’s a trap,” I muttered under my breath. “But it’s for Croatoan and not me.” To the group below, I called out, “All right, we’re coming down. No funny business.”
I really missed having the telepathic connection to my followers. Right now, I had no idea where Jeal was. I could only hope she was in position. When this went down, it was going to go down fast. “Petra, Gears, you guys deal with the wights on the right. Herb, you take the skudu-whatever it is. I’ll get Kristin and Croatoan.”
We started down the hill, Petra and Gears again blazing the trail. Our group stopped about fifteen feet from the altar. And then I realized I didn’t know which of the wights was carrying Croatoan. Shit. “Now then.” Croatoan’s voice came from everywhere. I couldn’t get a fix on it. “A proposal. I will release the soul of your friend. In exchange, your companions will leave, and you and I will have a friendly chat, Corinthos.”
“I have a counter-proposal,” I said. “You release Kristin, and then I take you back to the Pit.”
There was a sound as if Croatoan had just clucked his tongue. “Is that why you interrupted me at Dana? Are you seriously trying to return me to Below?” There was a sad chuckle. “Oh, Corinthos, why would you accept such a fool’s errand? You’ve seemed marginally intelligent on those occasions when you and I have had dealings. Now I understand why Treggen’s memories show you as a stumbling idiot.”
“Whoa, hold up, Treggen’s memories?”
“When Treggen ejected me from the sphere, we had a literal meeting of the minds. I gained much of his knowledge, and I suppose, he mine. But a human mind wouldn’t be able to handle the depth and magnitude of a demon’s memories; he’s likely gone a bit mad from the process. His mind, however, was a simple construct, easy to parse. And he hates you. Hates the fact that despite all his careful plans, you are somehow lucky enough to defeat him.”
Keeping a bad guy monologing is a key element for a good guy’s plans to work. I’d been hoping Croatoan would follow the typical Bond villain archetype, and so far, so good. I did my best to gauge where Jeal was. Then a tiny jet of flame, barely a freshly struck match in the dim light, flashed and went out. Signal given. “Now!” I yelled, and sprang forward, ready to free Kristin’s soul.
A whole bunch of things happened at once. I reached out and touched the altar, intending to Open Kristin’s bonds. As I did, hands made of stone burst from the rock around us, grabbing Petra and Billy. The skudea-whatever-ghost-witch sent out a blast of crackling black energy toward Herb. The pudgy necromancer countered with a single character of white energy, and the two magic users poured their power into a pushing contest. Vines of red energy snaked out around my arms and legs and hauled me none too gently over the altar, superimposing my body over Kristin. She vanished beneath me as an explosion of gray light flared around us. I glanced over to see Herb collapsed on the ground.
The stone hands holding Billy hauled him up and began bending his joints at unnatural angles. The squealing of metal was quickly replaced with the sound of shattering rock as one of his blasters began firing, breaking the stone hands off. Petra was stronger than whatever force was animating the stone, and was gradually overpowering her bindings. I Opened the vines holding me down, but new ones came in so fast that it was as if I hadn’t even done anything.
More hands came from the rock, holding me across the stomach, holding down my legs. Opening wasn’t doing anything. I watched, powerless to help as yet more hands burst from the rock, grabbed Petra, and threw her forty feet in the air. The ghost-witch pointed at her, muttered a curse, and Petra vanished in a puff of white smoke. I flailed against the vines and tried to get off the altar. If that witch had hurt Petra in any way, I would tear her arms off and beat her to death with them.
“Back, back, forward!” I heard Gears call. Billy launched himself forward, flying through the air like a missile, arms out in front of him. But he never got to deliver Raiden’s superman attack, because the ghost-witch snapped her fingers at him, and he vanished, too. God dammit. The vines were joined by hands coming out of the rock, further preventing me from escaping.
I thrashed and struggled against the arms pinning me down to the altar. “You know, Corinthos,” Croatoan said as a wight moved over me. “I do admire you. You are not the brightest adversary I have ever faced, but you do possess a cleverness and resourcefulness that one can’t help but appreciate. Sending your little friend here to eject me from my phylactery was an inspired plan.” A section of the rock to my left parted, revealing a bruised and bloodied Jeal. “In fact, if I wasn’t able to sense the souls of the creatures around me, I never would have known she was there. And if my skadegamutc wasn’t able to read her thoughts and broadcast them to me, then I wouldn’t have known what she was planning. But, alas, I was better prepared than you.”
“Let her go,” I said.
“Of course,” Croatoan replied. And the skadegamutc pointed at Jeal, and she vanished in a puff of white smoke. She did the same to Herb a moment later.
“What did you do to them?” I demanded.
“Nothing,” Croatoan said. “They have been sent to Hockomock Swamp. I have no need of them, and honestly, nothing to fear from them.”
“And Kristin?”
Croatoan pffd. “Returned to Above. I had no further use of her.”
“How is it your witch can teleport when I couldn’t?”
Croatoan’s vo
ice was delighted. “I forgot. You’ve only recently gained your ability to portal, haven’t you? I was the one who created the barriers at this spot. I lowered them.”
“In that case,” I grabbed on to all the extradimensional energy I could and willed a portal Open beneath me. The energy formed, the portal appeared, but the vines and stone arms held me in place. Then the energy began fading as Croatoan re-established his barriers.
“You really are quite gifted, Corinthos,” Croatoan said. “Only a handful of beings receive apertus energy at the levels you possess. I have a need of it. You see, I’m going to leave this realm, this entire universe. I’m going to start over. Go someplace where no one has ever heard of me, someplace beyond Hades’s reach. And when I get there, I’ll install myself as ruler, and its people will worship me as I deserve.”
“Wow, delusions of grandeur much?” I asked.
Croatoan chuckled. “I suppose, on some level, I will miss your banter, Corinthos. But I need your powers more than I need you.”
And with that, the wight produced a hunting knife and drove it straight into my chest. I screamed. Or, well, I tried to. It’s hard to scream when you’ve got a twelve-inch blade tearing through your lungs. And this is one of those moments when having accelerated healing makes things awkward. As Croatoan’s wight dragged its knife through my chest, the wound started to close. Croatoan barked a command, and his ghost-witch aimed her crackling black energy my way. As if having a knife pulled through my chest wasn’t painful enough, now there were arcs of darkness holding my flesh apart even as it tried to heal.
I didn’t black out right away. My healing kept me awake and coherent through the agonizing pain of Croatoan breaking open my ribcage. The last thing I saw was one of his wights reaching into my chest and ripping out my heart. It beat once, and then everything went black.
Chapter 12
I came awake with a shriek. I jumped out of the chair I’d been sitting in and crashed to the floor. I wasn’t in any pain, but that didn’t register with me right away. I scrambled to my feet, feeling at my chest. No hole. No blood. Running my hands through my hair, I tried to get my breathing under control.
Except I wasn’t breathing.
I struggled to tamp down the panic and take in my surroundings. I was in an office. A simply furnished place with a plain brown floor, a small aquarium with a devil fish, and pictures of a happy couple in touristy places. Memory came back. This was Hades’s office. And the lord of the underworld himself was sitting at his desk, watching me impassively. “Calm down, Corinthos. You’re dead. It’s part of life. Have a seat.” He gestured to the chair I’d overturned a moment ago.
“My friends,” I said. “Petra. Are they okay?”
“No idea,” Hades shrugged. “And I don’t care. The thing we need to discuss is that you’ve failed your mission for me. Croatoan is free. You will now be eternally imprisoned in Tartarus, cut off from your former followers and friends, to be forgotten by all.”
My mouth wouldn’t work, and even if it did, I couldn’t think of anything to say. I’d died. That little bastard had literally cut my heart out and was going to use it to conquer some faraway dimension.
“Don’t be premature, Hades,” a new voice said. “He hasn’t failed.”
I knew that voice. That voice had sung cartoon theme songs with me when I watched TV as a kid. That voice had read to me when I was sick. That voice had chuckled when I’d squeed after opening the limited edition Commander Courageous action figure on my birthday.
“Janus,” Hades said, surprise plain on his face. “I… You shouldn’t be able to gate in here.”
My father strode into the room, dressed in blue jeans and a green corduroy shirt. A black leather jacket was slung over his shoulder, and his black hikers made no noise as he walked. His dark hair was neatly combed back, and he wore a narrow goatee. His eyes were orbs of pure blackness, with no pupils or whites. That was a disconcerting feature on many paranormal creatures, but despite their darkness, my father’s eyes had always been gentle. And unlike what you see on coins depicting my father’s likeness, he doesn’t actually have two faces. Just one. And that one looked pissed.
Janus waved a hand at Hades’s statement. “I shouldn’t be able to gate in here? Please, Hades. This is me you’re talking to. And that is not what I want to talk about.” As my father moved, the light around him flickered. At first, I thought the fluorescents in Hades’s office were dying out, but then I realized that the flickers were tendrils of light coming from around my father. I squinted, and for the briefest instant as they became visible, the world I saw through those tendrils was different. As he crossed in front of Hades’s desk, fragments of the desk changed. It was still solid wood, but for just a moment, it was a different color, a different style all together. Parts of the floor seemed different, too, different tiles visible only for a second, shifting and changing beneath my father’s boots as he walked. If Hades noticed anything out of the ordinary, he didn’t mention it.
Before I could ponder this further, the door burst open and Orcus came running in, a squad of demonic guards armed with spears behind him. “Lord Hades,” he said. “We detected an unauthorized gate in this area and…” He trailed off, his eyes going wide as he took in my father.
“Ah, Orcus, you’re here, wonderful. Send your boys away,” he said with a wave of his hand. “And then have a seat. You need to be part of this conversation, too.”
Orcus stood dumbfounded as he stared at my father. Janus sighed. “You lot,” he pointed at the guards. “Go. Now. Shut the door on your way out.” The demons hesitated, and my father raised a hand. “I am going to count to three. There will not be a four. One.” The demons scurried away, the door slamming shut behind them.
“Orcus, Hades, Vincent. Sit.” He gestured at the center of the room and a pentagon-shaped stone table appeared.
“The old table,” Hades said. “We haven’t had that here in thousands of years. How did you do that?”
“I reached back in time and brought it forward for this occasion, old friend. I’ll put it back in its proper place when we’re done. Now, the one thing I cannot forgive is when people waste time, which you are doing. So sit.”
The other gods and I took seats at the table. A million questions were racing through my mind, but I kept my mouth shut. No one had seen Janus in years, which I knew was the result of a bargain he’d made with the Tempus. How had he come back now?
As my father sat down, he spread his hands to Orcus and Hades. “Now then, you two have held my son to an unfair promise, but you gave him a way out by giving him a quest. Very old school, Hades, by the way. He accepted that quest, yet you are not giving him the chance to fulfill it.”
Hades blinked. “He got killed, Janus. He’s dead. Croatoan’s free. He failed.”
My father’s dark eyes sparkled as he turned to Orcus. “What were the terms of the agreement?”
“He had twenty-four hours to recover Croatoan,” Orcus replied. “And if he failed to return him in that time, Vincent would be imprisoned in Tartarus for all eternity.”
“I see. And what of the stipulation that if he dies before that time expires, he automatically fails?”
Orcus shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
“I’m waiting, Orcus,” my father said, his voice hard.
“No such…” He cleared his throat. “No such stipulation was made.”
“I see,” my father said again. “May I see the contract that you and Vincent entered into?”
Orcus didn’t meet my father’s eyes. “There is no contract,” he said quietly.
“Janus, please,” Hades said, frustration evident in his voice. “This was an off-the-books affair, and surely you can see why. The spirit of the agreement was that —”
My father slammed his hand down on the table with such force that it
shook. “Don’t you dare speak to me of ‘spirit of the agreement,’ Hades. If you idiots honored the spirit of the law, then Vincent wouldn’t be here in the first place. The promise he made to Megan Hayes should never have been considered an eternally binding oath and you both know it. The fact that you held Vincent to the letter of that promise makes me sick. But, we are going to follow your lead, dear friends. You will honor the letter of this agreement. You made no exemption clauses, no contingencies. You gave Vincent twenty-four hours to complete a task.” He turned to Orcus. “How much of that time has passed?” my father asked.
Orcus produced a gold pocket watch from his vest. “About eight hours.”
“Apologies, Orcus, math never was my strong suit. If Vincent’s used eight hours, then is it correct to say he still has time left?”
“Sixteen hours,” Orcus said. The god of oaths looked irritated and maybe even a little ashamed, but kept his tone civil.
“And again, math not being my strong suit, I’m pretty sure that sixteen is more than zero. So then, Vincent has not failed. He still has time, and you have to honor that.”
“His heart literally got ripped out of his chest, Janus,” Hades said, exasperated.
“Oh, dear me, you’re right, Hades. I’m sorry. For a moment, I thought you were the god of the underworld, with the power to restore souls from the Pit to the realm of the living. How foolish of me.”
Hades’s eyes became cold and hard. “I will not be spoken to in my own domain in such a way.”
My father leaned forward. “You know what, Hades? My domain, the domain of time itself, contains all other domains, yours included. The skies, the seas, the realms of the dead, those all are encompassed by time. By me. You say this place is your domain? No. It is merely a tiny fragment of mine. So you’re going to give Vincent his chance to make good on your agreement, or I’m going to make some changes around here. You won’t like those changes. I can make it so that you never inherited the underworld in the first place. I can make it so that Persephone didn’t fall in love with you. I can make it so that Zeus failed to make Chronos vomit up you and the rest of your siblings, and you’ll spend your entire existence being slowly digested in a titan’s stomach. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, old friend. Do you want to know what I can do if you really piss me off?”
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