Salvation's Song

by Pearl Love

“Patricia, what are you doing?” Jeremy sounded bewildered, as though he were unable to process what he was seeing.

  “You have been deceived, mortal. There is no Patricia.” The creature cackled. “I am a child of Namtar, servant of he who rulesss the dead!”

  Tyrell growled, the ground below his feet trembling as his anger and desperation spilled forth. “I don’t give a fuck who or what you are. Let go of my brother!”

  The creature hissed and tightened her grip on Kevin’s slumped form. “If you wantsss him, human, then come.”

  “Patricia, wait!” Jeremy started forward when the creature darted off into the trees.

  Tyrell rushed forward and grabbed him. “That’s not the girl you know, Jeremy.”

  Jeremy looked at him with a pained expression. “Then what is she?”

  “One of those things,” Tyrell said, “but different somehow. More powerful. Can’t you feel it?”

  Jeremy’s complexion was decidedly green. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  Tyrell swallowed, his own disgust enhancing what he felt from Jeremy. “Me too. So let’s go and get my brother back.” He pulled Jeremy along behind him as he ran after the deceitful creature that wore a human face.

  The trees themselves seemed to be fighting them, growing far more densely than Tyrell remembered from the last time he’d been here.

  “Since when was there a forest here?” Jeremy wheezed, apparently having the same thought.

  “That thing must be doing this,” Tyrell said. He looked around realizing he didn’t know where he was.

  “Is the baseball field this way?” Jeremy asked.

  “I don’t know. Shit.” Tyrell spun in a complete circle, but the trees hemmed him in on every side.

  “Wait, the game has started, right?”

  Tyrell nodded. “Yeah, so?”

  “So,” Jeremy said, “the rest of the aluuku have probably already started their attack.”

  Tyrell scowled, anger warring with terror in his gut. “What the hell do we do now?”

  Jeremy grabbed Tyrell’s hands. “Close your eyes and concentrate. Try to feel them.”

  “Ugh, I already feel ill,” Tyrell complained.

  “Focus. The sensation is coming from somewhere,” Jeremy said, his gaze intent. “We just have to pinpoint the right direction.”

  Tyrell took deep breaths, both to calm his churning stomach and to quiet his racing thoughts. The day was fairly pleasant for late November, but the normal chill of the day had been chased away by an unnatural blast of heat. The stench he’d come to associate with the creatures filled his nostrils, making him gag.

  “Focus,” Jeremy repeated. “We can help each other.”

  Tyrell reached out instinctively for the energy emanating from Jeremy, letting it merge with his own power. The resonance built up slowly between them, hampered by their chaotic emotions. Finally, he sensed the connection solidify. He opened his eyes and stared into the trees behind Jeremy.

  “That way.”

  Jeremy opened his eyes and turned to look behind him. “Definitely. Let’s go.”

  They took off, and Tyrell prayed they were going the right way. At first, the trees continued to make the going difficult, but they soon began to thin until the scene once again resembled the Jackson Park he was used to seeing.

  “There’s the field!” Jeremy shouted.

  Tyrell was holding himself back so as not to get ahead of Jeremy, fear making him even faster than he normally was. Jeremy had been right that neither of them should try to take on whatever they found alone. The creature that had taken Kevin had been frightening enough to turn his knees to water. He didn’t want to think about what might happen if it had brought friends along. Unfortunately, when they reached the field, he realized his worst nightmare was coming true.

  “Oh no,” Jeremy whimpered. “There’s so many of them.”

  At least two hundred people had turned out for the game, and it seemed there were as many demons as there were spectators. People of all ages were in attendance: parents there to watch their children play as well as kids running the gamut from early twenty-somethings to babes in arms. Yet the aluuku weren’t limiting themselves to the young. The demons swarmed the makeshift stands, licking and clawing at the people who merely watched the action on the field, apparently oblivious to the threat right in front of them.

  “No one can see them,” Tyrell said with horrible realization. “How is that possible?”

  “Because we do not wish to be sssssseen.”

  They whirled around at the sibilant taunt. The creature who had taken Kevin stood behind them, watching with reptilian eyes.

  “Look, Patricia or whatever you are,” Jeremy spat. “Do you think we’re just going to stand here and let you and these things kill all of these people?” He bared his teeth in a parody of a grin. “We’ve been training for this, and we will stop you.”

  “Will you?”

  The creature’s laugh was like nails scraping slowly over a chalkboard. Tyrell fought the urge to shiver at the wretched sound.

  “Make one move, Sssingers, release one note, and this helplessss pup diessss.” The creature ran a claw over Kevin’s throat, opening up a thin wound.

  Tyrell struggled to breathe as he watched a rivulet of blood seep down his brother’s throat. “What do you want?” he grated out through clenched teeth.

  The creature’s tongue flicked against its needle-sharp teeth. “So many timesss…. So many chancesss to kill you both. But we waited until the perfect moment, until we could destroy everything you hold dear.” The creature’s expression darkened. “We sought to separate you, to exploit your pathetic human frailties. Your bigotry. Your fear.”

  Jeremy gasped. “It was you who suggested Nicole invite me to that party, wasn’t it. You knew what would happen.”

  The creature bared its teeth. “I played on their hatred, and I counted on your cowardice to keep you apart.” She hissed angrily, glaring at Tyrell. “Though sssomehow you managed to come together, it’s of no consssequence. The time has finally come. Now watch, Sssingers. Watch as we sssteal the life force of these mortalsss to ssspeed our lord’s return.”

  Jeremy sidled toward Tyrell until he was pressed against his side. “What do we do?” he whispered.

  With Jeremy standing so close, their power was at nearly full resonance. Tyrell knew they could destroy the creature in an instant, but he was paralyzed by the sight of his brother and angry at himself that he’d almost allowed the monsters to succeed because he’d been so afraid of his own heart.

  The chanting began so softly Tyrell didn’t really process what he was hearing at first. The music underlying his power was roaring in his ears, demanding to be released, to serve its purpose and destroy the demons. But when he finally perceived the droning words, he glanced toward Jeremy, whose expression revealed Tyrell wasn’t imagining them.

  “You hear it too?” he asked.

  Jeremy nodded. He looked toward the far edge of the field and pointed. “There!”

  Tyrell squinted and saw the outline of a figure in the distance. The person—man or woman, he couldn’t tell—was wearing something white that flowed in the chilly breeze coming off Lake Michigan. A second figure appeared about twenty yards to the left of the first, wearing identical clothing.

  “There’s another one,” Jeremy said, and Tyrell looked in the direction of his finger to see a third approach from the right. A fourth completed the arc, positioned so that they encompassed the outskirts of the field.

  A man nearby began to shout, speaking a language Tyrell had never heard before. The voice was familiar, and he turned to see Mr. Crabtree walking purposefully toward them from the way they’d come, holding the same tablet he’d been carrying during the Homecoming game.

  The creature spun to face him, the stringy remains of Patricia’s red hair flying behind it as it turned. Tyrell moved forward, a half-formed plan to grab Kevin at the back of his mind, but Jeremy grabbed his arm kee
ping him in place.

  “No wait. Whatever Mr. Crabtree is doing, it’s working.”

  “You cannot harm me, priesssst!” the creature sneered.

  Mr. Crabtree ignored the demon, continuing his incantation at an ever-rising volume. He boomed a final syllable, and held up the tablet. A bright light shot forth from it, and the creature screamed.

  “Kevin!” Tyrell shouted, terrified that his brother had been caught in the blast. He tugged at Jeremy’s restraining grip, but when the light faded, he saw that the creature stood motionless as though it had been turned to stone.

  Mr. Crabtree lowered the tablet and took a deep breath. “Are you boys all right?”

  “What did you do?” Jeremy asked as Tyrell finally pulled away from him.

  Tyrell hurried to Kevin, who was now lying at the creature’s feet. He noticed with a shiver that the demon was wearing the patent leather Mary Janes Patricia had always favored. “Kevin,” he said softly, stroking his brother’s face. “He’s so cold.”

  “Is he breathing?” Jeremy asked in a tiny voice.

  Tyrell put his fingers under Kevin’s nose and sobbed in relief as he felt a slight brush of an exhale. “Yes.” He pulled Kevin to him and held him close. “Yes, he’s alive.”

  Mr. Crabtree closed his eyes, his shoulder slumping. “Thank goodness for that.”

  “But what did you do?” Jeremy asked again. “How did you stop it?”

  “The tablet. As I explained before, it has the power to stun aluuku, though this one was far more difficult to affect.”

  “What is she?” Jeremy’s voice was full of the pain of betrayal. “I thought she was my friend.”

  “She fooled me too, Jeremy. I’ve heard of the ekimmu, a higher form of Nergal’s demons, but this is the first time I’ve seen one.” Mr. Crabtree sighed. “I’m afraid her presence means events are escalating even more quickly than we’d assumed.”

  Tyrell looked up at the teacher. “Why isn’t Kevin waking up?”

  “Because of my friends.” Mr. Crabtree nodded in the direction of the white-robed figures. “They’re invoking a spell of sleep.”

  Jeremy frowned but before he could ask the obvious follow-up, Tyrell nodded in understanding. “So no one will remember seeing them.”

  “But no one can see them now,” Jeremy said.

  A shrill scream put the lie to his statement. Tyrell looked up into the stands and saw a woman standing up, her face white with panic. An aluuku had attached itself to her small son, and a gossamer fog of sickly yellow was rising from the boy to disappear into the demon’s mouth. The woman tried to snatch her son away from the aluuku, but another one had latched on to her leg and was feeding from her in the same manner even as the woman slumped to the bench as the spell reached her.

  “Without the ekimmu’s power,” Mr. Crabtree explained, “everyone will see the aluuku if we don’t do something.”

  “Why didn’t your tablet stop those creatures like you did with the ekimmu?”

  “The spell isn’t strong enough to affect all of them, Jeremy,” Mr. Crabtree replied. “But you two can stop them.”

  Tyrell hoisted Kevin more securely into his arms and stood. His brother was too big to carry, and Jeremy rushed to help him. “Tell us what to do,” he demanded, holding Kevin in a protective grip.

  Mr. Crabtree moved past him and motioned with his finger. “Follow me.”

  Jeremy hurried beside Tyrell as Mr. Crabtree led them to the center of the field. Their resonance moved out before them toward where the ground was littered with the still forms of the young players who’d been caught in the sleep spell. Several aluuku were feeding from the children, but they dissolved into nothingness as soon as the two of them drew near. Tyrell couldn’t even be amazed at what they’d done as he threaded his way through the rescued players. He was sick with the thought that these kids and their families might suffer the same fate as Kevin’s friend, Jerome, if they failed. Jeremy helped him gently lower Kevin to the ground when they reached the pitcher’s mound.

  “Incredible, boys,” Mr. Crabtree exclaimed. “You’ve definitely been practicing.” He looked at them silently for a moment. “But something else has changed between you. I can almost feel the energy coming off you.”

  Jeremy’s face turn bright red, but Tyrell merely nodded. “You could say that.”

  Mr. Crabtree chuckled. “I won’t ask, but that’s a good thing. The stronger you are, the better. As you’ve seen, your powers will kill the creatures on contact, but these were only a handful. As soon as the larger contingent in the stands realizes they’re being attacked, they will come after you. If they swarm, you might not be able to hold them off.”

  “So it’s all or nothing,” Jeremy said.

  Mr. Crabtree nodded. “Pretty much. Now join hands.”

  Tyrell grabbed Jeremy’s hand and closed his eyes without delay. The resonance swelled between them, vibrating the air in an ever-expanding circle. In his mind’s eye, he could see their power moving out like a wave in a pond, spreading in ripples until it reached the closest of the aluuku feeding on the spectators. The creatures disintegrated into dust as the energy reached them, but as Mr. Crabtree had warned, the aluuku farther away from the front line let out an unholy shriek. The fact that their prey had all fallen unconscious hadn’t deterred them, but now they began to shout in what sounded like guttural gibberish to Tyrell. Yet one word was terrifyingly clear.

  “Siiiinnnngggaaaaa!”

  “They’re coming,” Mr. Crabtree yelled. “Don’t let up! No, stay focused,” he added when Tyrell opened his eyes.

  But it was too late, Tyrell gasped as he saw the charge of aluuku headed toward them.

  “Tyrell,” Jeremy said, “come on. We have to do this.”

  Tyrell nodded and squeezed his eyes shut. Fortunately, the resonance had faded only slightly in his distraction and quickly returned to full strength. The aluuku vanished as they rushed headlong into the wave, but the effort to keep up the sustained front was exhausting, and cracks began to appear.

  “Just a little longer, boys.”

  “Maybe you can do something besides talking,” Tyrell growled.

  Mr. Crabtree began reciting words from the tablet, and the aluuku nearest to them slowed, allowing the song to destroy them. Yet even with his help, there were simply too many.

  “We’ll never stop them all.” Jeremy’s voice was ragged with exhaustion.

  Tyrell didn’t feel much better, but the knowledge that his brother was in danger firmed his resolve. “We have to.”

  Mr. Crabtree’s chanting increased in volume just as Tyrell felt claws against his leg. His eyes flew open, and he stared down in horror at the aluuku clinging to him like a mutated barnacle. The creature was quickly joined by another, and then another. Tyrell felt weakness steel over him and realized in horror that the aluuku were feeding on his life force. Jeremy was faring no better, his pale skin almost translucent as the creatures began to drain his essence. Mr. Crabtree had resorted to shouting, but even though the aluuku were moving slowly as they approached, they weren’t stopping.

  “Die, priesssssst!”

  “Mr. Crabtree!”

  Tyrell turned toward the teacher at Jeremy’s cry, but the ekimmu was already on him. She dug her claws into his belly and ripped, leaving deep gashes behind. Mr. Crabtree cried out and dropped the tablet, the light of the spell fading the instant it left his hands. The ekimmu looked up at them, its alien gaze filled with murderous glee.

  “Your end isss at hand,” it hissed.

  Tyrell gasped as his drained life force passed into the aluuku ever more rapidly. He could only watch in exhausted horror as one of the creatures found Kevin and moved to attack.

  “No,” he wheezed.

  “Tyrell, w-we have to keep g-going.”

  He kept his eyes on the creature, too frightened to look away, but he could tell Jeremy had been severely weakened. His own knees buckled as his strength began to fail.

  �
�You will die, Sssingers, and our lord will walk the earth once more!”

  Sing, Jeremy! Tyrell! You have to sing!

  Tyrell jerked in shock. “What? Who was that?”

  Jeremy groaned. “Chris? Is that you?”

  Tyrell risked looking away from the ekimmu long enough to glance toward Jeremy. He was likewise on his knees, pulled down by his continued grip on Tyrell’s hand. The pendant was glowing where it rested against Jeremy’s chest, the light spilling from it bluer than the late-afternoon sky. Tyrell blinked against the brightness, but he thought he could just make out a figure silhouetted against the brilliance.

  “Chris,” Jeremy whispered.

  Tyrell’s vision cleared, allowing him to see a handsome young man with blond hair and green eyes. The resemblance between him and Jeremy was too striking to be a mere coincidence. He couldn’t fathom why the ghost of Jeremy’s brother was standing before them, unless it meant they were both close to death.

  You have to sing. It’s not your time yet, little brother. Now let me hear you! Let the heavens hear you!

  Jeremy took a deep breath, and when he opened his mouth, music poured forth from his throat. The sound was multilayered and beautiful, bathing Tyrell’s ears with its purity. All the love he felt for Jeremy and for his brother swelled within him, lending him the strength he so desperately needed. The music that resided in his deepest self rose up in response, and he was soon adding his song to Jeremy’s.

  Sing!

  Tyrell tightened his hold on Jeremy’s hand and gave everything he had to his song. The ground began to shake as a flash of light pulsed out from where they knelt, rivaling the brilliance coming from the lapis lazuli pendant. He watched in wonder as an image began to take shape, the notes and the light melding until it formed a pair of giant wings that hovered over them. A figure solidified between the wings into an enormous owl made of pure light. The spectral bird beat against the air, buffeting them until Tyrell felt as though he might fall face-first to the ground. The owl opened his beak, but instead of a hoot, a mimicry of their song rang out over the field.

  The aluuku stared at the owl, their grotesque features twisted in terror. Suddenly the creatures began to scatter, running frantically in every direction, but it was too late. The owl swept back and forth over the field, seeking out the aluuku wherever they fled. It caught the aluuku up in its outstretched talons by the dozens. As soon as it touched the demons they disintegrated into shadows that quickly fell apart and disappeared. Soon the minions were all destroyed, and the bird turned and headed back toward the center of the field where the ekimmu stared at it in defiant rage.