A Kiss Before Doomsday

by Laurence MacNaughton

  She wasn’t deluding herself. She hadn’t been miscasting the spell. Greyson really was alive. And he was here somewhere.

  Sniffing, she pulled out her wedge of spectrolite and charged it up, making it glow with a sparkling rainbow of hues. Starting at Hellbringer’s nose, she slit the webbing all the way down the length of its long body, finishing at the tail wing.

  As the webbing crumpled and fluttered away, she grasped the chrome handle on the driver’s door and pulled. With a faint squeak, the heavy door swung open. The interior of the car was clean and empty. Not a trace of webbing inside, and no clue as to Greyson’s whereabouts.

  She slammed the door and sagged against the car’s cold black paint, suddenly overcome with exhaustion. Even with a map, this place was a maze. She could spend weeks searching this labyrinthine underground complex without finding him. And it would only be a matter of time before Titus or his undead creatures caught up to her.

  She pounded one fist uselessly on the roof of the car. Which way should she go? Where could Greyson be? There was no way she could track him down before Titus pumped his sea of scourge out into the world, raising all of the dead, everywhere.

  They were all doomed.

  Under Hellbringer’s hood, something whined, as if stirring from a deep sleep. Despite the fact that part of her was indescribably happy to see the speed demon again, Dru couldn’t contain her frustration. She slapped one hand on the hood. “Shush,” she said.

  Then she walked away and paced the shadowy floor. “Where is he?” she wondered out loud. “I don’t have my copper circle or my candle. I can’t cast the spell again. The clock is ticking. There’s like a hundred miles of tunnels in this place. It’s impossible. Do you know where Greyson is?” She directed this last question at Hellbringer’s black angular snout.

  The speed demon, of course, said nothing.

  Dru squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the skin between her eyebrows, fighting off the feeling of soul-crushing defeat. “Even if I walk out the door right now, I don’t even know whether to go left or right.”

  A yellow light bathed her for a moment, then winked out and came on again.

  She opened her eyes, confused. The light clicked on and off, surrounding her in a pulsing amber glow.

  Hellbringer’s left turn signal blinked steadily on and off. As she stared, Hellbringer’s engine coughed and rumbled to life. The hot blast of its exhaust blew off the last tatters of webbing, sending them twirling away into the darkness.

  She remembered when Hellbringer had come on its own to find them in the depths of the mountains. It knew, instinctively, where Greyson was. Hellbringer could take her to him.

  “Do you know where Greyson is?” Dru shouted over the pounding roar of the engine. “Where is he?”

  The driver’s door swung open.

  Heart thudding, Dru stepped around the door and sank into the cool depths of the driver’s seat. She barely had time to place her hands on the steering wheel before the door slammed shut with a thunk as solid as a bank vault.

  With a squeal of tires, Hellbringer lurched forward. Far too fast, they blasted down the length of the machine shop, shoving workbenches aside, until they made it out through the wide doorway. The tires howled like tortured banshees as Hellbringer turned and lunged down the left-hand tunnel.

  32

  BACK IN BLACK

  As Hellbringer hurtled down the deserted tunnels, headlights burning through the darkness, Dru kept a wide-eyed lookout for Rane or Salem. But she saw no one, not even a single undead creature. Somehow, that made her even more nervous.

  She couldn’t tell how deep they were underground, but as the rough rock walls flew by, she could practically feel the weight of the mountain bearing down on her. It made it hard to breathe. Hard to think. Or maybe it was just the fear of what she might find.

  The tunnel widened and tilted steeply down. They passed a gauntlet of walled-off machinery, then rumbled over a series of steel strips that turned out to be the tracks for massive sliding doors. A moment later, they emerged into a low-ceilinged chamber that extended out beyond the range of the headlights.

  Hellbringer’s tires crunched on gravel as they approached what at first resembled the edge of a cliff drop-off. But when the headlights caught the crests of distant waves and the light reflected back at them, Dru realized what she was really looking at: a vast underground lake.

  But it wasn’t water that sloshed and rolled as far as the eye could see. It was scourge. Black, oily, foul. So much scourge that the very air was thick with the stench of death and decay.

  Ahead of them, a cluster of perhaps two dozen undead creatures marched steadily down the gravel beach and waded into the toxic scourge, disappearing one by one as the blackness swallowed them up.

  Each creature towed a thick line of webbing behind it, and each line was firmly attached to a man wrapped in webs.

  Dru blinked in shock, hardly able to believe it.

  It was Greyson.

  His arms and chest were wrapped up like a straitjacket. He fought against the tangle of webbing that dragged him inexorably toward the lake. Kicking, twisting, digging his bootheels into the gravel, he succeeded only in slowing down the undead. But he couldn’t stop them.

  Hellbringer’s engine roared as the speed demon raced to attack the undead creatures. The car charged straight toward the lake.

  “No!” Dru leaned forward and placed her hand on the textured black dashboard. “Forget them. Run over the webs instead. Can you do that?”

  Hellbringer ignored her and charged resolutely toward the undead, the obvious enemy.

  “The webs!” Dru ordered, trying in vain to turn the wheel. It wouldn’t budge. “I can cut him loose! Stop right on the webs, pin them down, or he’ll die!”

  At the last second, Hellbringer relented and turned, kicking up sprays of gravel as it skidded across the beach and stopped. Its front tires flattened the ropy strands of webbing to the ground.

  As one, the undead creatures lurched, their forward momentum instantly halted. Before they had a chance to turn and slog back out of the black scourge, Dru slid out of the car onto the gravel. Spectrolite flaring to life in her hand, she slashed at the dozen or so ropes of shimmering webbing.

  As Dru hacked away, the thick silver strands snapped and whispered away into the lake. The undead, all knee-deep or farther in, foundered in the oily scourge. One by one, they slipped beneath the gurgling surface.

  Dru scrambled around the front of the car. From beneath the other tire, taut yards of webbing led to where Greyson lay on the ground, his entire torso wrapped up in black-speckled webs.

  “Dru!” He sounded just as shocked as she felt.

  She knelt at his side, momentarily stunned that she had actually found him. That he really was alive and intact. Looking down at him, she couldn’t truly believe he was real until she reached out and touched the scratchy stubble on his cheek.

  She didn’t realize she was sobbing until she saw her tears raining down onto his web cocoon. She was so choked up that she couldn’t speak.

  “Shh, it’s okay,” he said, over and over. “Can you cut me loose?”

  “Yes, yes, sorry.” She sniffed and wiped at her eyes before easing the glowing spectrolite blade through the webbing, carefully cutting it away. When his arms were free, he wrapped them around her and held her tight.

  “I thought I’d never see you again,” she blubbered into his shoulder. Then she straightened up, trying to get ahold of herself. “Why did you leave?” she demanded, still sniffling. “Why did you drive off like that?”

  His glowing red eyes stared up at her sadly. “Look at me. I’m still cursed. I couldn’t drag you back into all that. I couldn’t ruin your chance to have a normal life.”

  She blinked away tears. “I don’t care about any of that. I don’t. Cursed or not, you’re still you. And I could never push you away, no matter what.” She ran her fingers through his hair. “I need you with me.”

 
; He cracked a smile, his stubbled cheeks dimpling. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard in a long time.” Then he squinted one glowing red eye at her. “What happened to your glasses?”

  “Oh.” She touched her face. “I got contacts. What do you think?”

  Still smiling, he said, “Get the rest of these webs off me and I’ll show you what I think.”

  “Oh. Right.” She cut away more webs. They left behind a sticky residue, like an old price sticker. “How did you end up down here?”

  “Some guy in red,” Greyson said as she worked to free him. “He kept going on about his destiny. Said I wasn’t worthy of you.” He studied her face, as if searching for the answer to an unasked question.

  She nodded, unable to stop the tears. “You are so worthy,” she whispered, her voice rough.

  When she finally freed him from the last of the web, he sat up and wrapped her in his arms again. His strength pushed away all the fear, all the danger, making her feel safe and secure. For the briefest moment, there was only the two of them, and she could have stayed that way forever.

  She had never wanted to kiss him so badly as she did now. She turned her face to his.

  In the distance, a deep voice bellowed, “Drusy!”

  Her head snapped around to look.

  Titus stomped along the beach toward them. His slicked-back hair had come undone, hanging around his head in disarray. His red double-breasted jacket was gone, leaving him in a torn white shirt smudged with dirt. He marched toward them with crazed fury in his eyes, his gloved fists bunched at his sides.

  Greyson stood up and pulled her to her feet, standing protectively in front of her. “Stay back. This guy’s bad news.”

  “Let me talk to him.” She put a reassuring hand on Greyson’s arm, then slipped her spectrolite into the open zippered pocket of his leather jacket. Carefully, she stepped around him and held out her open hands to show Titus that she was unarmed.

  “Drusy!” he shouted, closing fast. “Why did you betray me? Why?”

  Behind her, Greyson murmured, “Drusy?”

  “He’s a friend,” Dru said, realizing that that explanation only made things sound worse. “An old friend.” That was even worse. She cringed. “I’ll tell you later.”

  Still marching toward them, Titus pointed one gloved finger at her. “This is not the way it’s supposed to be. You were brought to me for a reason. You have a responsibility. To the world.”

  Dru held up her empty hands. “Yes. I do have a responsibility. To save the world. Not destroy it.”

  “You’re under the misapprehension that those are two separate concepts. Your thinking is too literal.” Titus shook his fist. “The world is going to end—”

  “No!” Dru shouted. “It’s not too late. You think the solution is to go with the flow and help make doomsday happen? It’s not. You’ve dreamed up this convoluted prophecy to explain why you have these powers that you yourself admitted to me that you hate. You remember that? You got stuck with a bad power, Titus, and I’m sorry about that. But there is no cryptic master plan forcing you to kill people.”

  “There is a master plan.” Titus stopped near the shore, planting his booted feet. He spread his arms wide, to encompass the vast lake before them. “And I am the master.”

  Dru held her thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “You want to take it down just a notch? Please? Let’s step into the way-back machine and go way back to those days at my old apartment, when I was trying to help you get rid of your powers. Do you remember that? You remember how you trusted me back then? Because I was trying to help you then. And I haven’t changed. I can still help you get rid of this power.”

  “Get rid of it?” He sounded as if she had slapped him.

  “Yes. You got the short end of the sorcery stick, okay? And I feel bad for you. Anyone would. But sometimes bad things just happen.”

  Titus shook his head. “That’s only your perception. In the grander scheme of things, all of this is happening for a reason. All of this was meant to be.”

  “Listen, you have a choice about what you do with your power. We all do,” Dru said. “That’s what’s called free will. None of us are locked into one unchanging destiny. Life isn’t a railroad, Titus. It’s an open road. And ultimately, where we go is up to us.”

  “Bravo.” He clapped slowly, looking unimpressed. “A clever bit of philosophy.”

  “Well, the railroad thing is from a box of herbal tea, actually. But that’s not the point.”

  “I was given this power for a reason,” Titus said emphatically. “I met you for a reason. Our existence, meeting here, at this moment before doomsday, that can’t be a coincidence.”

  “Sure it can. Weird stuff happens all the time. I mean, look at me, I thought I was going to marry a dentist and settle down in Highlands Ranch and drive a minivan to soccer practice.” She glanced over her shoulder at Greyson, who lifted an eyebrow in response. She patted his hand, and then turned back to Titus. “But instead, I’m a mile underground in a nuclear bunker arguing with you about the end of the world. I mean, come on, that’s just a teensy bit weird, right? That’s what happens.”

  “You can’t avoid your destiny.” Titus took a step closer. “It all adds up, Drusy, everything. My power. The Harbingers. The speed demon. The apocalypse scroll.”

  “Where is the apocalypse scroll?” Greyson called out, startling her.

  Titus ignored him. “And now you’re down here with me, Drusy. A crystal sorceress who can open up the gate to the netherworld. You have to know why the bunker is located here. You felt it when you stepped into the entrance, didn’t you?”

  Immediately, Dru knew what he was talking about. That subtle shift in the air she’d felt when she first stepped into the mountain tunnel. The sudden, sticky clamminess against her skin, as if she stood on the brink of another world. At the thought of it, goose bumps raised on her arms.

  “These mountains are riddled with potential gateways,” Titus said. “That’s the reason for the crystals. The vivianite and all the rest. Everything I’ve done, it’s all for you. So you can help me bring doomsday to the world, the way it’s supposed to be.” He held out his gloved hands, as if expecting she would run down the beach and leap into his arms. “That’s why you’re here. To help me.”

  “No,” Dru said flatly. She could hear the coldness in her own voice, but she couldn’t disguise it. The way he turned this all around and laid it at her feet filled her with revulsion. “I’ll never help you.”

  “Of course you will. It’s our destiny. Why else would you be here?”

  She hesitated before she answered, but it was the only answer she could give. “I’m here to stop you.”

  Slowly, the manic confidence faded from Titus’s eyes, replaced by a growing fury. As the cold rage spread across his features, Dru had the horrible sinking realization that she had gone too far. There was no talking Titus down from the ledge now.

  He turned and raised his arms out over the scourge lake. The oily surface splashed and slopped, as if stirred from deep below. A foul wind sprang up, rippling across the shimmering black waves, tugging at Dru’s hair and sequined dress.

  Over the cold buffeting wind, Dru shouted, “I don’t want to fight you, Titus!”

  If he heard her, he gave no sign. He just stepped closer to the edge of the lake, raising his arms higher. The oily black scourge surged up like a rising tidal wave, a wall of filthy, toxic darkness that made her knees go weak with fear. Five feet high, then ten, and it kept growing.

  “No!” Dru shouted, unable to keep the panic out of her voice. “Titus, stop!”

  Behind her, Hellbringer’s engine roared. Without warning, the demon car leaped past her, its back wheels spitting gravel as it charged directly at Titus. She didn’t know what had spurred the speed demon into action. Maybe it was her fearful shout that triggered some kind of protective instinct in Hellbringer. Or perhaps the demon car simply took advantage of Titus’s distraction to get revenge for its
imprisonment.

  In the end, it didn’t matter why Hellbringer attacked. There was nowhere for Titus to run. Too late, Dru realized what was about to happen.

  “Hellbringer, no!” She watched, horrified, as the car rammed into Titus, flipping him up over the windshield as it drove past. The impact sent him flying, howling in pain, toward the scourge. Titus’s angry shout cut off abruptly as he plunged headfirst into the black lake and disappeared.

  Hellbringer spun around, its tires carving long, curved gouges in the beach. It slowly crept back along the shoreline, like a hunting animal stalking its prey. But Titus was nowhere to be seen. Waves roiled unabated across the black surface of the lake.

  The buffeting wind continued, and over it Dru could just make out a chorus of squeals from the scourge, sounding satisfied as it presumably devoured Titus.

  With an effort, Dru pulled her hands away from her face, where they had flown the moment Hellbringer started moving. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. A terrible trembling began somewhere deep inside her, propelled by emotions too violent to rein in. Disgust. Anger. Regret. All of them mixed with a rush of relief that Titus was gone, and she felt deeply ashamed for that. The man had to be dead.

  “Oh, my God,” she whispered. “What did we just do?”

  Greyson put his arms around her and pulled her close. But even his presence couldn’t reassure her. She couldn’t be a part of killing someone. Not even Titus. As horrible as he had been, part of her still believed he could’ve been saved. She stared with horror out at the swirling black lake.

  “Just to set the record straight,” Greyson said, his voice rumbling through his chest, “Titus had that coming.”

  Dru shook her head. “No. Nobody deserves that.”

  “Should’ve told him that before his skeletons tried to take me waterskiing.” Greyson released her. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”