by Sam Cheever
As her teeth closed down on my throat I smiled. “That might be true, Kiri.” I yanked my power forward and let it wash out of me unfettered and wild. It blasted away from me with an audible whoosh and wrapped itself around the devil riding my body, hitting her with the force of a laser train. “But I’m thinking not.”
She screamed as the angelic energy slammed into her and her head fell back, her black eyes swirling red with pain and rage.
For a moment I was worried she wasn’t going to fight back. But then she stiffened her spine and, with an angry roar, slammed a fist against my chest and sent magic, black and oily with evil, surging into me.
The pain blossomed outward in a knife-like flash, making it impossible even to breathe. A horrible sense of déjà vu swamped me. Tears slipped from my eyes as I screamed under the onslaught of her horrific power and my skin felt as if it was being ripped from my body.
Just like that I was back in that underground cavern, strung between two huge devil guards with Crisanne standing over me. Once more I was being raped of my magic, beaten into nothingness beneath a stronger creature’s massive power. Again, I was being reduced to helplessness.
I whimpered as the royal riding my body laughed, her terrifying black gaze widening with pleasure as my body shriveled beneath hers. Squeezing my eyes closed, I tried to fold myself into the fetal position. But I couldn’t move my arms and legs. I was trapped. Helpless. Terrified.
Again.
Then I remembered why I was there. Somehow, through the choking fog of heart-stopping pain, my mind formed around a single, inescapable word. Dialle. It was the only thing that could make me fight back, when all I wanted after months of pain and despair was to give up, curl into a tight little ball, and let my life wash quietly away.
But his name was a lock against those thoughts. It forced me to remember something very important. I still had work to do.
I opened my eyes and looked into Kiri’s smug black gaze. Blood ran from my ears and nose and my vision was hazy, but I wasn’t going to let the devil win again.
As Gus had taught me to do, I fought my natural instinct to repel external magic and concentrated hard on turning myself into a receiving device. We hadn’t practiced pulling dark magic into my core, but I figured the principal should be the same. It wasn’t quite, though. Because dark and light magic don’t easily fill the same space. Like oil and water they don’t like to mix.
At first the magic refused to be drawn in. It continued to scour my flesh like acid, repelling the bright energy filling my core. I fought on, feeling my energy and magic sliding away from me even as my heart stuttered in my chest. I closed my eyes and tried to push the pain away. It was a nearly impossible task.
Kiri’s power sliced into me, ripping across my flesh like knives, while clutching my insides in an unrelenting grip that turned them to mush. But I focused harder, challenging my will to win, testing myself against a grueling and seemingly impossible task.
Slowly, ever so slowly I sensed the dark magic giving way. I knew the moment the first small strand of her dark power fused with mine. My eyes shot open and my chest swelled under the pulse of power growing there.
A moment later, Kiri felt it too. Her perfect, pink lips opened as she sucked a surprised breath of air. I increased my efforts, giving a final, brutal pull on her power to drag it, harsh and clawing, from her breast.
Kiri threw back her head and screamed, the sound throbbing across the dense waves of power filling the room and beating against my eardrums like distant thunder. Finally, she collapsed on top of me and, gritting my teeth, I tried to disengage from her power before I killed her. The connection between us held firm. I tried again, using everything I had to cut the bond. It thinned and rolled away, evading my mental grasp.
The Royal on my chest stopped twitching and her eyes rolled back in her head. I could no longer see her chest rising in breath. I panicked. With a cry of desperation, I bore down on the stream of black power pouring into my core and sliced it clean off, sagging back to the bed with relief.
I lay there, my head spinning, as her ugly magic rolled around under my skin. Nausea boiled in my belly and for a moment I thought I would be sick. I had felt the same way during the veil-locking ceremony, when Dialle fed me black energy in an effort to defeat Satan and keep the veil from locking down over the Earth. It had nearly killed me then. And I don’t think I’d consumed nearly as much of it.
When I thought I could keep the contents of my stomach in place, I looked up at the shimmering chains locking me to the bed and, with a thought, sliced cleanly through the cuffs. I looked at the cuffs around my ankles and did the same.
Shoving Kiri to the side, I slid out from under her and felt her heart. It was barely beating. I needed to heal her or she would die.
But before I did that...
I reached for the discarded chains and clapped them over her wrists, sealing them with a jolt of magic. Then I sent healing magics into her chest and, after a moment her eyes fluttered weakly open.
I climbed off the bed, dressing myself with a thought before I even realized I’d done it. Damn. I grinned. That power would come in handy for sure.
I thought about my knives and a sword and they appeared. As I shoved the blades into the sheathes in my boots power fizzled over my fingertips. When I straightened back up my head swam so badly I had to grab the edge of the bed to steady myself.
“You bitch!” Kiri’s voice was rusty and weak. “What have you done to me?”
I spared her a glance, feeling more powerful than I ever had. “I took your magic away from you.”
She stared at me with horror clearly written across her pretty features. “You’re a monster.”
And that’s when it hit me. I was Crisanne.
Holy frunkin’ shit. I’d become my worst enemy.
~SC~
I opened the door and looked both ways down the hall. It was unnaturally quiet. Nothing was ever really quiet in Hell. And if it seemed that way that meant trouble was happening nearby. Somewhere in Dialle’s castle all hell was breaking loose—probably literally—and I needed to tread carefully or I’d step right into the middle of it.
I slipped out the door and closed it as Kiri started to scream. The door snicked shut, cutting off her screams like a blade slicing through newly sprung grass. I smiled. Nobody understood sound proofing like a royal. They were always doing something they didn’t want anybody else to know about.
I hurried down the hall, not sure where I was going, except that I knew I needed to find Dialle. I figured the first place I should look would be his throne room. I remembered from the last time I’d been there that the castle in Hell was laid out a lot like the Royal Court in Angel City. It wasn’t a mirror image. The court was built inside a huge warehouse in the outskirts of the city and only had three levels. By contrast, the castle in Hell had four large levels and a tower that I thought went up six floors. At the top of that tower was the dragon roost. Glynus had spent many a fun afternoon up there playing “incinerate the Christmas tree” with the young green dragons when she and I were there last.
I smiled at the memory.
My mental drawers shifted and Darma was suddenly in my mind. Astra? Where the hell are you?
In Dialle’s castle.
I can’t believe you just ran off on us. We’re under attack out here.
I know, I was there, remember?
No. I mean we’re under renewed attack. A whole new crop of soldiers just showed up.
I sighed. Dialle hadn’t wasted any time. I’m guessing those are Dialle’s private soldiers.
Dialle? Why would he send his soldiers after us?
I have no idea. But he’s not himself. I’m really worried. He actually chained me to the bed.
Silence throbbed for a beat and then my sister’s voice drawled through my mind, filled with disgust. TMI, Astra.
Don’t be stupid, Darma. It wasn’t in a fun way... Well...it was fun for a while...
As
tra!
Sorry. Anyway, all I meant was that this is going to be harder than we thought. We’re going to have to actually kidnap him to get him out of here.
Frunkin’ wonderful. How do you propose to do that?
We’ll have to get an angel chain on him.
We’d need both dark and light magic for that, Astra.
I am aware, Darma.
So I repeat, how do you propose to do that?
You let me worry about that. Leave the angels and soldiers there to fight and you, Slayer, and Emo slip away. Come to the castle. And bring Glynus.
I broke the mental connection before Darma could launch into her usual diatribe about how selfish and undependable I was. Aside from just pissing me off, there wasn’t really any new information there. No sense wasting time going over all my shortcomings again.
I heard voices and ducked into an alcove as two soldiers came around the corner speaking the guttural language of Hades. My ancient Hades was rusty at best but I heard Dialle’s name, so I followed them at a careful distance and tried to hear what they were saying.
Several minutes and a butt-load of twists and turns later, they stopped in front of a set of golden doors and I knew they’d taken me where I needed to go. The soldiers stood in front of the throne room arguing in the harsh language my aunt Deidre had tried to teach me when I was young. Suffice it to say, at the time I was less interested than I should have been.
Darma, of course, could speak it like a pro. Though she’d rejected all things magical until recently, she just didn’t have it in her not to excel at everything she tried.
That moment was one of those very rare occasions when I wished my sister was there. I really wanted to know what had those soldiers so riled up. I could only hope it was the arrival of my small band of merry men and women. Hopefully we were putting a dent in their ranks.
Astra?
I jumped at the sound of my aunt Myra’s hostile voice. Hey, angel. Are you coming to the castle?
No.
Suppressing my temper, never an easy thing for me to do, I took a deep breath and tried to sound reasonable. Why not?
Negotiations aren’t going well. Satan is insisting that, if we’re allowed to invade his environs at will, he should be able to send his minions into Heaven at will too. We’re at a stalemate.
Frunk me.
Sorry. I’m trying to get an extradition order for Dialle right now. Hopefully I’ll have that soon. Dialle and his intermediaries have been notified.
What? You warned them? What the hell?
We had to, Astra. That’s how it’s done.
Shit! You people are no better than politicians.
That isn’t very nice, Astra.
In a fit of temper I clamped my mind closed on my stupid, rule-following aunt. They couldn’t make things any harder on me if they tried. I returned my attention to the soldiers at the throne room doors just in time to see them throw the doors wide and step to the side.
What I saw inside that room made my mouth drop open. A sense of déjà vu swamped me. The massive room was filled with bodies. It looked as if Dialle had called all the inhabitants of Hell together for a meeting. They were probably discussing how best to deal with me and mine.
As dark worlders started to shift and roil inside the room, some of them spilling out into the hall, I realized I couldn’t wade through that mess to get Dialle. Not by myself. I would need the help of my friends. I shuffled my mental drawers and waited. A heartbeat later, Slayer came online.
Astra, we’re on our way to the castle.
Good. Meet me in the dragon’s roost. Glynus can get you in there.
Okay. What’s the plan?
The usual. Kick ass, blow shit up, and pray.
He smiled in my mind. That’s my favorite plan.
I ducked into the nearest stairwell and headed toward the tower. Yeah. Mine too.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Oldies but Goodies
The dragon’s roost may prove the point, that wisdom comes with age,
But should the elderly reptiles fail, dark war will ever rage.
The dragon roost was a lot less full than it had been last time I’d been there. From what I could see, all that were left were really old dragons who’d most likely lived all their lives in Hell’s environs and had no families to worry about. They’d probably built up a pretty decent resistance to the sulfurous air centuries earlier so the rising levels didn’t affect them.
My entrance didn’t create much of a stir. The dragons were used to seeing me around. Standing near the door I frowned at the elderly flock of a dozen greens with disappointment. I wasn’t sure I had the firepower to do what needed to be done.
The opening of the roost shimmered and Glynus flew through, followed quickly by Darma on Snoopy. They landed gracefully in the center of the large roost and one of the green females roared a greeting at Glynus. She responded in kind, causing my sister to cover her delicate ears as Spence dipped his head so she could slip from his back.
When the uproar died down I looked at Glynus. Where are Slayer and Emo?
We ran into a small band of soldiers a few klicks out. They should be right behind us.
Darma stood beside me, eyeing the massive greens carefully. “So, what? Glynus and Spence are visitation pets for the seniors?”
“Ha, ha.”
“Seriously though, it’s a pretty end-of-life group, Astra. I’m surprised they haven’t all moved to Florida already.”
“We’ll just have to make it work.”
“Which brings me to my next question. What exactly are we making work?”
“I’ll tell you as soon as the guys get here. I don’t want to go through it twice.” Translation. I was in full seat-of-my-pants mode and didn’t want Darma to know it a minute sooner than necessary.
The entrance shimmered again and Slayer came flailing through on his red. The big dragon had a damaged wing and probably shouldn’t even be airborne. Knowing Slayer, he’d probably gotten the dragon there through sheer force of will. The massive red dragon careened off the side wall of the entrance and skidded across the floor, screeching to a haphazard stop a few inches from Spence.
To his credit, the giant white dragon barely blinked at the near collision. I could only guess he’d experienced worse hanging around with Glynus for the last year.
Just behind Slayer, Emo made a far less dramatic entry to the roost on his red, landing it tidily on the other side of Glynus.
I looked up at Slayer. “I see you broke your ride.”
He lifted a leg over and slid down the dragon’s heaving side, moving to examine the torn wing. “He caught a direct blast as we were taking out the last soldier. I’m not sure I have enough mojo to heal it.”
He and I both turned to Darma. She rolled her eyes and gave us a long-suffering sigh. “Fix this Darma, heal that Darma. It’s exhausting being around you two.”
As she set to work mending the red’s bum wing, Emo, Slayer and I moved away. I filled them in on the situation in the throne room.
Slayer frowned. “What do you think they’re cooking up down there?”
“I don’t know. But whatever it is, I’m sure it’s bad for everybody. Dialle has definitely taken a turn toward his dark side.”
“So what do you have in mind, Astra?” Emo asked.
I lifted an eyebrow. “What do you think I have in mind?”
Emo stared at me for a beat and then grinned. “I’m thinking you plan to send all these dragons through the huge wall of glass in the throne room and in the melee we’ll snatch Dialle and cart him off.”
I glanced down to hide my Eureka moment. “Partner, you know me so well. That’s exactly what I was planning.”
Slayer snorted and went to help Darma with his mount.
Emo glanced over at the senior dragon conclave across the roost. “Oh. That’s a lot of wrinkly flesh.”
I sighed. “Yeah. Not quite what I anticipated either.” I fully expected them to start pl
aying dragon bingo any minute.
“You sure they’re up to this, Astra?”
“No. But they’re all we have. We’ll have to make it work.”
“At least they’re big.”
It was true. Dragons kept growing all their lives—something human mythology had never noted, probably because the growing slowed way down. Think middle age spread with wings. But they did grow, and that meant the oldest among them were the largest. What we had in that room was a lot of really big dragons. “If nothing else they can sit on a few dark worlders and smash them flat.”
Emo nodded. “I can work with that.”
~SC~
Back under her cloaking spell, Glynus hovered beside Spence, their powerful wings beating the air slowly as we sized up the area to be breeched. I think we should go in first, I told her.
She did the equivalent of a mental head shake. No. We can break the glass but then we need to let the old ones enter first. They can join magic to protect the king from the heat and sulfur, and block us until the last minute so we have a better chance of grabbing him.
Spence focused a bright green gaze on me. She’s right, mother halfling. If the king sees us coming he’ll skedaddle.
Glynus expanded on her idea. They’ll think the castle dragons are just senile and crashed through the glass by mistake.
Until it’s too late, Spencer added.
I thought about this plan, finally nodding. You guys are good.
Of course, my dragon told me with characteristic humbleness.
I turned to Emo, whose red dragon Keesh was hovering within the perimeter of Glynus’s and Spence’s cloaking magic. “We’re going to send the greens in first, they’ll distract everyone while Glynus and I sneak in and nab Dialle.”
He nodded. “Darma and I can stay outside to cover you while you go after him, and grab up anybody who tries to escape.”
Slayer was already in place just beyond the castle, out of view. I shifted my mental drawers and told him the plan.
Do you need my help inside?
I thought about his question. If it came to a scrum inside the castle we’d be hopelessly outnumbered. Our only chance was to catch Dialle by surprise. No. Stay where you are and wait for my signal. Once I have Dialle I’ll need your help holding off the hordes while I make a break for the breech.