I found my gauntlet, slipped it over my wrist, and snatched the glowing submachine gun. The light radiating from the weapon seemed to prove to me that its magic remained intact. Plus, it provided some light as we pushed our way through the submerged bedroom. Keira’s framed photographs floated past me, torn from their proper place on the dresser by the instantaneous flooding of the apartment.
Rage filled my chest. Hadn’t Keira been through enough? Did this bastard have to invade her home too?
I wanted to hurt the hovering mage outside the window. I would get my chance shortly.
Fueled by anger, I kept pushing out with my legs, while Keira expertly mirrored my moves. We powered through the dense mass of water, swimming side by side, and arrived in the apartment’s living room. Chairs, cups, and lamps drifted through the flooded room, buoyed by the water. I almost expected Brogan to materialize in front of us like a shark ready to draw blood, but the mage was nowhere to be seen. He’d experienced first hand what I was capable of back in the Malibu mansion. Better to sit this one out and let us drown like rats. Who needed a direct confrontation when you could cut off someone’s oxygen, right?
And talking about oxygen, or lack thereof, my lungs were starved for air. I had to break out of this death trap. Fast.
I kicked myself off the wall with both feet and shot like a torpedo toward the nearest living room window. Outside, the traffic twinkled, distorted by watery blur.
I touched the glass. There was no sign of Brogan. I guess he just liked peeping into bedrooms.
The next step of the plan seemed straightforward. Break the window and let the water rush outside. Despite my screaming lungs, I hesitated. A new thought had occurred to me. Would shattering the window create a whole new problem? Conceivably, it might depressurize the apartment and send Keira, myself, and hundreds of gallons of water through the window down to the street below. An eight-story drop would prove fatal.
After using up a precious second to think, I decided it was worth the risk. I planned to hold on to the window sill with all my enhanced strength and stop us from being dragged outside if it came to that. I had no idea if it would work, but time was running out. Dark clouds were already forming in my field of vision. I had to act.
Tapping into all my strength, my fist blasted out at the window. The glass shattered, but nothing much else happened. The water refused to escape from the opening, almost as if some invisible wall was holding it in place.
Brogan’s spell was even more powerful than I thought.
Fucking magic! What I wouldn’t give for a nice RPG or a claymore mine. My military background was nearly useless in this war. This was a new fight with new rules. The Shadow Cabal’s rules.
You’re not the man you once were, I told myself. You’re the Night Slayer.
My magic was depleted, and the agony in my lungs was becoming worse than the throbbing chest wound.
Desperate, I stuck my head out the window, and for one precious second, I was able to breathe. I toyed with the idea of climbing out, but there was no ledge and no way I could scale bare walls without plunging to my death within seconds. Plus, there was the matter of my new friend. Keira was still inside the apartment. And unlike me, she wasn’t getting a chance to feed her starving lungs. I had to find another way out of the water-filled apartment. A better way.
I gorged on oxygen and pulled my head back inside. My darting gaze landed on the door leading out to the hallway. I glanced at Keira who was struggling, her gaze distant, and then pushed off from the window sill toward the door.
I shot over the couch and the ruined big screen TV. I zoomed past Keira, who was clinging to the wall with what little strength she had left as if it was a life preserver. Her eyes were wide and big with fear and pain, her agony etched into her features. Any second now, she would take in that first deep breath of water, and she would drown in front of my eyes.
No! I wouldn’t let it happen. No one was going to die today except Brogan.
As soon as I reached the door, I flipped open the lock, snatched the door handle, and started pulling with all my strength. Naturally, the door didn’t budge, the water pressure keeping it tightly sealed.
I wondered if Brogan was somehow following my desperate battle for survival. I could almost feel his gaze boring into me.
I clenched my jaw. One thing was becoming clear—brute force wouldn’t open the door. Even if used my dragon blood and punched my way through the flimsy wood, Keira would never last that long. One final option remained.
Magic.
I swallowed the pain in my throbbing chest and turned inward. My magic was all but spent, but maybe I could tap into one last reservoir of power, just enough to blast my way through the closed door. I had to try.
I focused my mind, blocked everything else out. A stream of bubbles blew from lips, and I shot a glance at Keira. I saw the desperation on her lovely features.
Shit, she wasn’t going to make it.
And for a moment, it felt like I was looking at Leah, my fellow SWAT officer. I blinked, and the eight other members of my team drifted through the apartment, rotting corpses suspended in a watery grave. Lifeless, bloated faces stared back at me with dark accusation. They had trusted me to keep them safe, but I let them down. Let them die. They were gone and buried, while I had cheated death. I could hear their incessant whispers in my head.
Why keep fighting the inevitable? Why go on?
I tightened my jaw, and my heart slammed against my chest.
The floating corpses of my team drew closer, their dangling arms reaching out for me…
No, I had survived for a reason. This was my chance to make things right. To avenge my fallen friends. To keep others safe.
Brogan must be triggering this horror show. He had gotten into my head somehow, found the images that would hurt me the most.
Get the Hell out of my mind, you bastard!
My blood boiled with righteous fury as I violently drew a circle in the water. My lips twisted into a snarl. The water started to heat up while the door in front of me turned a fiery red.
Open fucking sesame!
And then the wooden door incinerated in an explosive flash of magical energy. Blinding light enveloped the apartment and erased the dead SWAT members from view.
I’m done with cheap magic tricks, Brogan, you hear me? I’m ready to face you man to man.
For a surreal beat, I stared at the hallway beyond the apartment. Again, the water remained contained in Keira’s unit, with not a single drop spilled.
I whirled toward Keira, who was swimming toward me with a last burst of strength. I dragged her with me over the threshold.
A beat later, we burst from the water-filled apartment and landed on the dry hallway floor, soaked to the bone and gasping for air. Keira collapsed and struggled to breathe, coughing up water. I leaned over her, ready to perform mouth-to-mouth if she needed it. She wheezed and choked but was breathing. Keira was a real fighter.
She was still gasping for precious oxygen when footsteps rang down the corridor. Brogan lurked at the far end, fronting an elevator door. I automatically stole a quick glance in the opposite direction and froze. The hallway stretched endlessly before me with no end in sight. Another magic trick. Brogan’s message was quite clear. There would be no escape. I would have to go through him.
Honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I turned back to my enemy. The succubus had wiped out my team, but in the end, the demon hadn’t been much more than a ravenous animal. This power-hungry acolyte had set the gears in motion that ended up costing my friends’ lives. This asshole was to blame.
The twin blades of my gauntlet snapped out with a loud snick. My other hand brought up my machine pistol.
Brogan smiled, secure in his powers.
Before I could squeeze off a round, gunfire filled the hallway. Behind me, Keira unloaded my sidearm into Brogan. The acolyte nonchalantly waved his hand in response, and with a sizzling hiss, a shield enveloped his whole bo
dy in a protective cocoon of magical energy. The silver bullets incinerated on contact.
I stole a glance at Keira. Recognized her frustration as she lowered her empty gun in defeat. Bullets wouldn’t stop this agent of chaos.
Brogan began striding toward us with determined, measured steps. As the Cabal acolyte drew closer, he said, “Who are you? Your magic is pathetic, but someone must have taught you these parlor tricks.”
“My parlor tricks were enough to blow up your little clubhouse.”
Brogan flinched at my words. Encouraged by his subtle but unmistakable reaction, I continued to push those buttons. “I wonder what the Dark Masters will say when they discover that it was you who led me to the mansion.”
Brogan eyed me with confusion. I looked nothing like the hipster student who had shaken his hand a day earlier. Time to jog the bastard’s memory a bit.
I did my best impression of my College groupie voice. “Professor Brogan, my name is John. It’s an honor to meet you. My friends have been bugging me to check out your class. I will definitely be enrolling next semester.” I paused dramatically and explained, “I marked you with the Eye of Horus after you finished your lecture.”
Shock rippled over Brogan’s face as he grasped his role in what had happened. He studied his right hand, whispered words in a language I didn’t understand, and the tracking symbol grew visible on his palm.
“Even if you deliver my head to your masters on a silver platter, they will blame you for what happened. An acolyte who became too cocky for his own good.”
“They will understand. You tricked me.”
“Of course.” A wry smile crept across my lips. “They seem like an understanding bunch. I bet knowing you royally fucked up will do wonders for your future in their sick, power-hungry little club.”
Brogan went pale. Good, I was getting under his skin. His magic might be better than mine, but my Kung Fu was stronger. I was doing my darnedest to even the playing field. All I had to do was bide my time, keep picking at him until he made a mistake.
I really thought I was gaining the upper hand. But that all changed when the skin on my chest distended and a wormlike creature slithered below my skin. I gasped, clawing at my chest.
Brogan regarded me with a widening smile. As his peals of laughter echoed through the passageway, I knew I was royally screwed.
17
Beads of sweat raced down my temples as the snakelike shape slithered underneath the skin of my pectoral muscle. There was only one explanation. The giant in the pit had infected me with some sort of parasite.
“Not a parasite, my foolish friend,” Brogan said with a chuckle. “Offspring.”
I glared at Brogan, realizing he had picked up my last thought. The worm wiggled beneath my skin, and I choked back a scream.
“I bet you didn’t know the Nockmars are hermaphrodites, capable of fertilizing both females and males. How do you feel about becoming a proud papa?”
I gnashed my teeth, rage making me momentarily forget the pain. Man, how I wished to wipe that shit-eating grin off his ugly mug.
Brogan inexorably closed in, a predator zeroing in on his prey for the kill, indifferent to the glowing submachine gun in my hand. He started walking sideways and up the wall like a spider, unaffected by gravity. Within seconds he had reached the ceiling and now advanced upside down.
The fucker was showing off his bag of tricks, demonstrating his superiority. I flashed back to my first encounter with the succubus inside the downtown apartment building. She too had shown a preference for walking on ceilings. It had to be a Cabal thing. I almost chuckled at my dark sense of humor, but the crawling pain in my chest kept the smile off my face.
As the creature stirred inside of me, another realization hit me. I knew how Brogan had found me. He must’ve homed in on the parasite’s magical signature. Nockmar Jr. had led the fiend straight to us.
“I picked up another voice in your head,” Brogan said. “Who were you talking to? I bet it was the same person who taught you spell craft and provided you with these toys. Who dares turn against the Cabal?”
The question hung in the air. Brogan had another thing coming if he thought I was going to give up the sorceress to save my own skin.
“Talk to me, Jason. Tell me who you’re working with.”
“Go fuck yourself!”
Irritation flickered in Brogan’s eyes, but he kept his cool. “I won’t lie to you. There is no chance that I’ll spare you. But I can promise you a swift, painless death if you answer a few questions. If you refuse to help, the alternative will be far less pleasant. The creature inside of you is growing. As it gains size, it will grow hungrier and devour you from the inside like cancer. First your muscle tissue, then the organs. This will be a slow, agonizing gestation. The creature knows which organs to avoid and which you can survive without for a short while. It’s programmed to keep its host alive for as long as possible. Once you are skin and bones, it will finally put you out of your misery. But by then you will have gone mad with pain.”
I bit my lips. I could almost feel the parasite clawing into my muscles, nibbling away at my strength.
“It’s over. Time to share your secrets.”
Through a haze of agony, I mentally ran down my list of options. I could empty my weapon into Brogan, but then what? If he deflected the bullets again, it would come down to my gauntlet and daggers. What chance did those weapons stand? And could I even manage hand-to-hand combat with a fucking nightmare worm in my chest?
I stole a glance at Keira. She stood a few feet behind me, rooted to the spot, her finger closed around one of my silver daggers as if it was a protective talisman. The blessed knife wouldn’t do much good against Brogan’s magic.
I’m so sorry, I thought. I tried to save you. I really did.
Frustration detonated inside of me. Octurna had been right. I wasn’t ready to go up against the Cabal. It appeared the Midnight War would be over before it had a chance to even get started.
Another spasm erupted in my chest, and I hunched over, struggling for air. The pain was unbearable. I had become a living incubator for a monster. I tried to think of a worse way to die, but nothing came to mind.
“It’s too bad you won’t be alive to see the birth of your child, Jason. I wonder if he takes after his dad or his dad.”
Brogan’s sardonic laughter rang out, and I would’ve given up my left nut to ram my fist into that smirking face.
I blearily looked down the hallway and saw the elevator door open. Despite my suffering, knowing some innocent was about to emerge from the lift and step right into this nightmare made me mad. Another person would perish because of my failure to stop this monster.
“Stop beating yourself up, Jason.”
My heart skipped a beat when I recognized the person in the open elevator. It was Octurna. Her red robe billowed around her as if she was at the center of a storm, her regal features inspiring devotion. Had she set foot in the world, knowing she would succumb to the Cabal’s death spell? I caught a glimpse of the black throne behind her, the space inside the elevator eerily elongated.
Holy Shit, Octurna had materialized the Sanctuary inside the Keira’s apartment building! The elevator had become the portal to the fortress.
“Bring this dog to me, Slayer.”
It sounded so simple. All I had to do was push Brogan into the waiting elevator. Once inside the fortress, Octurna could turn her magic against the bastard. And despite his powers, I knew he was no match for the sorceress, even in her weakened state.
Only about fifteen feet separated Brogan from the elevator, but it might as well have been a mile in my current condition.
I’ve got nothing left, I thought. Sorry, boss.
“The creature inside of you has fed on your dragon blood. It’s tainted by your magic. And that makes the creature yours to command. Make the parasite do your bidding!”
Octurna’s cryptic command came to me through a cloud of pain. What was the sorce
ress talking about? How could I control the slithering beast inside of me? And how could that help me, anyway?
I saw the worm snake underneath my abdominal wall and almost gagged. And then an idea hit me. It was crazy, most likely doomed to failure, but dammit, it was also worth a shot.
As Brogan appeared above me and flipped from the ceiling back the floor, I focused on the nasty bugger wiggling around in my torso. I tried to visualize the thing outlined beneath my skin. At first, nothing happened, and then, like a faint echo, I heard a hiss. The parasite was not happy about my attempts to control its motor functions. It struggled, resisted, and then succumbed to my will.
That’s right, buddy, who is in charge now?
The thrashing under my skin stopped, and the creature began to push against my skin instead of trying to burrow deeper into the muscle tissue. It wasn’t ready yet to emerge from his warm host. It still had so much more feeding to do, but the power of the Dragon Blood wasn’t leaving it a choice.
Brogan stepped in front of me, features twisted in an expression of triumph.
“So what will it be? A slow or a quick death?’
“You tell me, asshole.”
And with these words, I gave the parasite inside my chest a mental push. If you’ve seen Alien, you have a good idea what happened next.
The serpentine parasite, all twelve inches of its gore-streaked albino form, erupted from my skin and shot out like a living arrow right at Brogan’s shocked face. The creature’s tiny, hungry head, topped with a ring of sharp, blood-stained teeth, buried itself into Brogan’s neck before he could ignite his protective shield. As he staggered back with a scream, I brought up my rune-engraved machine pistol and let loose, each bullet tearing into the Cabal’s lackey.
His shield crackled weakly around him, his mind occupied with keeping the parasite from tearing his face off. The shield stopped the bullets but failed to incinerate them. The impact of each projectile hitting the shield pushed him down the hallway toward the waiting elevator.
Octurna meanwhile had vanished in the lift’s shadows, but I knew she was lurking in the darkness. Waiting for Brogan to enter a realm where she made the rules.
Night Slayer: Midnight War Page 15