Zahra pulled me away.
“My meat!” I whined.
My meat! My dragon howled.
Zahra said, “It will slow us down. We’ve got to get to the town. We can hide there.”
Hiding offered temporary safety, but nothing long term, but this wasn’t a good time and place to argue about it. The day was lost to evening. Overhead, a green velvet sky hung low, green stars strewn in alien constellations begged to be touched. A small moon hung near the horizon. It was yellow-gray jasper, pitted and cratered. Mentally connecting lunar shadows, Americans talk about a man in the moon. The Japanese say it’s a bunny.
I just saw shadows.
As we went, I saw a sword that had been left leaning where a guard had been. I grabbed the weapon. We hurried away, down several flights of stairs, and off a paved path toward an obelisk. I should have been exhausted, but my golden dragon magic had surged up in me again. Shadow magic seeped through my bones and muscles, all but ebonizing me as it surfaced and flowed over my skin. “Cool, I’m a Nubian prince!”
“Keep your voice down and try not to talk.”
“Because we might be heard by travelers?”
“No, you just annoy me,” she said.
I sighed. She’d always liked Colt more.
So do I, my dragon said.
“This would be so much easier if I had my Mustang.”
“Trying to steal a horse would have been too risky,” Zahra said.
That’s right; a horse is the only kind of Mustang she knows.
My dragon said: Caine, what’s wrong with this world. I can feel it eating at my strength, my life. It feels like it’s angry there’s life here at all.
We’re in a sterile reality. It was lifeless until Anubis came here with his followers. This world is now bonded to Anubis, a god-zone. Selene has the Red Moon. Osiris has the world beyond the Western Gate. Death gods are what the Japanese call shinigami. Most pantheons have at least one. Some of them, like Anubis, break off in time and go solo. A shinigami with a personal territory has a sort of unnatural battery and amplifier. It’s hard to defeat a god or goddess in their own territory.
Is that why Anubis seems short of guards? He doesn’t need them?
I suspected something worse.
I think he’s been hanging out here with his worshipers so long, he’s basically killed off most of them. If we keep poking around, I expected we’re find legions of skeleton warriors somewhere, ranked and staged for invading some other god’s domain. Maybe even Selene’s.
My inner dragon snorted his contempt. That’s simply rude.
We reached the obelisk. Our little road curved to pass just short of the marble needle.
Our Washington Monument would look like this—if covered with Egyptian hieroglyphics.
We went along the bend and down into a valley. The stone road became a rutted dirt track. I saw structures huddled ahead, a small town. There couldn’t have been more than a few hundred people. Oil lamps on poles lit the streets at odd intervals. Somehow, the lights were all the same bile-green I’d come to loath. I saw no sign of other travelers.
As we passed the back of Anubis’ temple, off to the right, I saw flooded fields. The necessary water spurted from the base of the temple itself. At least he took half-assed care of his people, if only so they could better serve him.
I stopped. “Zahra.”
She stopped to look at me.
I said, “If we go there, we will only bring death and destruction down on those people. Besides, I can’t imagine we can hide there for long.”
“What else can we do? The desert is death. We have no way to even carry water except this stupid bowl.” She still carried it for me.
“My power is still building, but even diminished, I have a way of defeating Anubis. There is a ceremony I can perform, a sacrifice, that will make me invincible, and destroy Anubis’ power. You’ll have to trust me on this.”
Before she could answer, we were surrounded by the spectral green glows of hovering cameras. A series of clicks surrounded us. A deep voice boomed out of the night. “Sounds interesting. Need some help, little dragon?”
My sword had leaped to fend off danger at the first click. Seeing who it was, I lowered the stolen weapon. Kain came closer, appearing to consolidate out of the darkness itself. The ghost lights painted him in a pleasant green, glossing across his black business suit. Every hair, every cufflink, was in place. His immaculate appearance pissed me off as he eyed my poncho with pity.
“You took your time showing up.” I said.
“As soon as my ghosts let me know where you were, I had to nail down the extra-cosmic coordinates and fashion a stronger spirit-portal as a bridge to this dimension. I see you’ve found a little playmate. This one looks too young for you.”
“You know, I don’t fuck every girl I’m with, right?”
He looked doubtful but didn’t argue, changing the subject. “So, this plan of yours…”
“I call it the Obi-wan Mind Fuck Ploy. I intend to lure Anubis to me, strike myself down, and highjack the dead side of the Force from him, becoming a god.”
Zahra gaped at me, her mouth hanging open. She gathered herself. “Are you an idiot? That’s your plan?”
I nodded. “Elegant in its simplicity. You can see it working, right?”
“I see—nothing. The outcome is hidden from me by Bastet.”
Kain stared at me. “Tell me more.”
“You get a key role. I don’t know anyone else cold-blooded and ruthless enough to do what I need done.’
Kain smiled. “Oh, now you’re just flattering me.”
As the ghost cameras floated closer, the light got better. I pulled aside the poncho I wore and pointed to a bruise on my abdomen. “See this?”
Kain looked where I indicated. “A rather deep bruise.”
Zahra looked as well, then let her gaze drop to the monster hanging between my legs. She blushed and jerked her eyes away.
“Not a bruise,” I said. “A Shadow Tatt. Watch as I bring it to the surface.” I concentrated and the shadow magic darkened the top layers of skin. “I hid it in plain sight.”
He poked a finger at the pattern now that the runes, writing, and arcane symbols were clearer. His brows arched. “Some kind of perpetual healing spell? What’s this part? It feeds on universal death? Do you even know what you play with?”
“I know. I think this will be needed when the time comes to face the Flawless. However, the spell’s latent qualities haven’t been triggered yet. I need to warm the tatt with some dragon magic, then take lethal damage to at least twenty-five percent of my body for the main effects of the spell to trigger.”
“You must be me,” Kain said. “The risk, the daring beauty of forbidden sorcery, the insane logic of it all—triumphing over death by becoming death. It is the next step. And to think, I thought of it.”
The fuck you did.
My dragon also complained: He’s stealing my idea.
The air filled with the throaty fart-sound of ram horns. Bile-green ghost lights were lighting up the area all around the temple, spreading out in a search pattern.
“Something tells me they know I’ve escaped,” I said.
Kain smiled. “Great. You did say you needed to lure Anubis closer before setting off the spell.”
“Kain, have your ghosts take Zahra to a safe place and hide her. Then you’ll have to keep the soldiers off us until Anubis gets here in person.”
“Easy enough.” His gaze went to the girl. “Zahra? She is the one with the eyes of a seer? A valuable resource.”
“Don’t get any ideas. The goddess Bastet will kick your ass.”
His grin widened. “Somethings must be risked, or a man is not a man. You know this.”
I took the bowl of rocks from Zahra. The ghosts with their cameras herded her away. I watched her hide in high grass along the edge of the flooded fields, then turned my attention back to Kain.
He stared at my bowl. “You ra
ided the enemy camp and all you stole was a bowl of rocks? They’re not even gem-quality.”
“Kain, shut the hell up about the rocks and tell me one thing: if I need you to cut me in half, can you do it without arguing?”
“Curious thought. A challenge. I’m certainly ruthless enough. I have the skill. Yes, my friend. You can certainly depend on me.”
I offered him my sword.
He waved it off. “I’ll use my own, when the time comes. I know it’s sharp enough and I need to regularly feed it blood anyway.”
There was a ghostly swirl of green mist and his broadsword dropped hilt first into his hand. This close, I could see a fine patina of red on the metal, as if it had drunk so much blood, it would never quite be clean.
I looked up the road we’d traveled. There were now bile-green lights and a damn thick horde of skeleton warriors—the devolved form of zombies—on the way.
“Party time,” I said.
TWENTY-THREE
“Cold-blooded killers make great
friends. I call them leverage.”
—Caine Deathwalker
Bathed in crimson, I lifted my eyes. Selene’s Red Moon hung in the alien sky.
She’s found me!
My inner dragon said: It’s the least she can do. She is my mate.
Selene descended in a shaft of Red Moon light. Following her down were a dozen black-iron gargoyles from the royal palace. Their wings were open for the glide, talons ready to grasp and rend. Their whip-like tails flailed as they bared fangs. Red-crystal eyes blazing with homicidal intent. How such heavy mechanisms could fly without jets or rockets boggled my mind.
Selene landed in her crimson armor and came toward me with a slow, relentless tread.
Her metal monsters continued on without her, scrambling up the dirt road toward the skeleton warriors.
Selene threw herself in my arms. I returned the hug, letting her softness mold to me as I inhaled her sweet scent, enjoying her warmth. Over my poncho-tunic, her hand slid down my spine, searching. “Your wound?”
“Tender but healed. I missed you.”
Her smile bloomed. “I didn’t even have to drag that out of you.”
I pushed her back so I could look into her face. “Do me a favor, will you?”
With Selene here, I had my exit strategy covered; I could proceed with my plan. She’d hate it and might let emotion get in the way of judgment, so I couldn’t be upfront about it. I needed to distract her for a while.
Her eyes were a haze of red, their crystal depths hidden by the incandescent passion of a goddess. “Whatever you need, I am here for you.”
“I want you to pick up a mountain and get ready to throw it at Anubis.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes, love. He will be coming from the ugly temple over there. Look for a flying Mustang. When you see him, let him have it!”
She kissed me and vanished in a swirl of tiny red star-points that glittered a moment and died.
“My Mustang!” Kain objected.
I glared at him. “What I cannot own, no one else will!”
He glared back. “Selfish bastard!”
“Takes one to know one. So, ready to kill something?”
“Bring it.” He spoke past clenched fangs. His sword tight in his fist, he slashed the air, loosening up his swing.
I looked up the dirt path toward the obelisk and saw a massive tangle of bones with the iron gargoyles at the center of the melee. They were shrugging off the skeleton warrior’s weapons, breaking bones, chomping them, and pissing about with utter contempt, the piss a corrosive acid. The bones that didn’t break were softened, being dissolved.
Staring behind me, I studied the little village. It was shut up tight. Whatever was going on, the residents were smart enough to stay out of it all. That suited me. I planted my stolen sword point-first in the ground, letting go of the hilt, loosely tying the cloth sling there.
“The moment’s upon us.” Lifting my gaze into the sky, I spotted my flying Mustang, seeing its undercarriage and the twin beams of the headlights.
My beautiful car… Farewell, my first love. I get to mourn you twice.
A red-crystal meteor slammed down out of the night, crushing the car on contact, pounding it to the ground, over the ridge where I couldn’t see.
I flushed the shadow tatt with golden dragon magic, activating the spell. “Now, before Selene gets back, Kain—do it!”
His sword tip kissed my cheek. A sting followed. Then a soft ooze of blood. I touched the scratch and stared at Kain. “What the fuck?”
He grinned. “The wound closed and is gone. That’s fast even for a dragon. Your spell works, even against my cursed weapon. I wasn’t sure if this world would suppress your spell or not.”
I had to admit it was smart of him to test the magic before committing himself to something that maybe couldn’t be undone. He blurred, but my dragon sight still followed his movements. The blade came around, slashing.
I saw a red blaze in the sky as Selene threw lightning to earth in the area where Anubis crashed.
I closed my eyes, locking my muscles against motion, fighting my survival reflexes.
Cut in half, I flopped to the dirt.
And then I was standing, as if time had rewound a few seconds. But there was still blood on the ground. A lot of it. And blood on Kain’s broadsword. He lifted the blade to his lips and licked it off with a delighted, slurpy sound.
“That’s just wrong,” I said.
And then I screamed. Not from the reboot. That part had worked fine. But celestially, my paranormal mechanics broke apart and reconfigured—and it fucking hurt. The shinigami dimension latched onto me with immaterial tendrils of cosmic force. Bile-green energy washed away my thoughts, blinding me from within my mind. I felt the weight of the death world as if it were just a grain of sand adrift in my depths.
And then I smelled Fairy, as if on another world. Grass and flowers, clean and, water, bird song, ancient forests, life at its strongest a current surging through me—at war with the concept of Death. That part of me that was Overlord of Fairy, the fey High King, objected to joining with death, even to becoming a death god. It rewrote the shadow spell tatt I wore. I felt the shinigami dimension spewing me out—its power returning to Anubis, wherever he was,
Damn. My plan failed. We need to run for it!
The bile-green light in my head splintered, turning brassy gold, then pure gold as frequencies changed. The savage scream of power sank back inside the black shadow of my body.
Wait. I think I’m still a god, just not a death god any longer. What then? A fey god?
Kain looked at me. “Dude, that’s freaky. You’re like a three-dee shadow with all-yellow eyes.”
Holding cameras, balls of spectral green light floated around me, taking shots. I didn’t blame them.
I lifted a hand and looked at it. Blackness, but thinning to translucence where the light of my eyes touched. I brought both hands together in a silent clap. My hands felt nothing, going through each other like appendages of smoke; or actual shadow. I pulled my arms apart, breaking the connection.
“Kain, get the girl for me and take her to the Red Moon. I’ve got to help Selene with Anubis.”
He smiled. “Anything for a friend.”
I couldn’t worry about Zahra’s double right at the moment. Selene could take significant damage from Anubis now that I wasn’t tying up his power anymore. And after being bitch-slapped by red lightning, Anubis would have blood in his doggy eyes.
I’d worry about what the hell I’d done to myself later as well. I was just glad the mutation from death god to fey god seemed to have damaged the shadow tatt; it no longer worked. It was good I had the power of a fey god against Anubis. And bad I had no instruction manual for my new state.
Better just wing it.
I bent knees and leaped into the air. I had a sense of myself, as if the darkened air were feeding my awareness. That sense let me know when blades of g
old sprouted from my back, and then fused at their bases, becoming multi-pronged wings of light. They didn’t move like dragon wings. No flapping. Instead, the blade tips broke down into an exhaust of ionic particles, even as they reformed to keep feeding the process.
It felt like a giant tennis racket had connected and slammed me into sky. The ghost cameras tried to keep up but fell behind as the world streaked under me. I arced past the gargoyles as they stomped out the last bone-headed opposition.
Once past the ridge, I angled down, changing trajectory with my desire. I’d always wondered if gods needed training in the use of their power. Apparently not.
My inner dragon said: Convenient.
Dropping toward a fused, shattered wreck of a car, I looked for Anubis. There was no sign of him or Selene. The Mustang had a sort of crumpled flatness that brought shadow tears to my eyes.
My poor baby!
I landed and stood still, closing my eyes, listening to the darkness as it whispered. I also tried to put myself in Selene’s place. If I had just flattened Anubis, and he seemed mortal, just another piece of were-jackal roadkill, and I were a hot, redheaded, monster-making goddess, what would I do?
I’d pick up what was left of Anubis and fly him to the Red Moon for dissection and maybe gene-splicing. I turned my eyes to the stars. And the great red-crystal orb of a moon. I hoped she’d gotten him there, out of range of the death-world. Restored to godhood, Anubis would be at a disadvantage away from his planet. The Red Moon was an extension of Selene, her goddess dominion where whim was law. She could handle him there.
Just short of orbit, a web of bile-green lightning unfurled like a hanging growth of fancy lace. In that net of power, a jewel point of crimson light flashed, slashing back in retaliation. They were fighting in the air, where I assumed they had a balance of power. Problem was, that balance wasn’t going to last if Anubis could bring the struggle back down to ground.
I can’t give him that kind of time.
I leaped, my golden blades of light acting like rocket thrusters. Speed. Pure speed. The need burned deep inside where I was all golden storm. I wanted to get right on Anubis before he saw me coming.
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