Caleb hadn’t made me feel this way; everything with him had been so simple, so pure. Everything with Caleb had been easy, had been without baggage. Still, I wasn’t quite sure how I really felt about Caleb, especially with Joshua sitting there, so close that I could reach out and touch him.
I bit my lip and tried not to cry as my insides squirmed. I looked at my apple and resisted the urge to hurl it at Joshua.
“How did you find me yesterday?” I said as I swallowed the bite of apple. It was tough since my mouth was suddenly dry. “Or have you been following me for a while?”
“I didn’t find you. You made that impossible.” Joshua didn’t look up from his carving but shrugged his shoulders. “Mattoc sent me.”
My eyes opened wide and I stared at him for a long moment. “How?”
“Telepathy or something… I dunno.” He shrugged again. “I had a startlingly painful vision of what was happening, and I came as quick as I could.”
I closed my eyes in irritation. Admittedly, it was partly that Mattoc had sent him here and partly because he had saved me. “So where is Mattoc?”
“Isn’t he here?” Joshua looked at me and I stood, leaning on the table.
“No, Warthor took him.”
“Ah,” he said after a long pause. “Well, either way, we need to chase down the demon that escaped from the vampire’s Demonslayer. Mattoc will have to wait.”
“Or stop the giant space rocks from clobbering the earth,” I muttered. I wasn’t worried about the demon just yet. It’d take a while to recover from the beating Joshua had given it. Besides, finding the thing would be simple enough. The damn demon had left so much blood behind that making a charm to find it would be easy.
“I wouldn’t worry about the asteroids just yet. We should be worried about this demon.”
“Then you go after it,” I snapped. “I don’t know how to actually kill a demon. Do you?”
Generally, when we “kill” demons it destroys their vessel. Because the true demon remains behind in Hell, destroying the vessel doesn’t exactly destroy the creature itself. This demon, unfortunately, seemed to be fully in this realm now. We needed to find a way to actually kill it… pronto.
“Well…” Joshua said before pausing for a long time. “Shirajirashii could do it.”
“It’s broken.” I sucked a breath in through my teeth. “I can’t recraft it that fast.”
“Why don’t you have a spare?” He peered quizzically at me.
“It isn’t like super rare magical materials are easy to come by in Southern California. I was hiding, if you hadn’t forgotten. That meant no trips to fairy, the nether, or any place where you might find me.” I turned and shook my bandaged right hand in frustration. “Besides… without Mattoc’s help, I don’t know how well I can control Apep. Apep was always the glue for the darkest part of Shirajirashii. Without Mattoc, that sword is irretrievable… so I have decided to reanimate a different weapon.”
“That’s just an excuse. You’ve used Shirajirashii for years. You’re long past needing Mattoc’s help to control Apep. Besides, it’s not something you can easily replace.”
“Shirajirashii was Dirge’s weapon, and I’m not her.” My cheeks flushed. “I wanted to try to find my own weapon.”
Joshua shook his head as if to say he thought it was a very stupid idea. “So what blade is the great Lillim Cortez Callina going to wield?”
“Haijiku.”
Joshua’s eyes widened, and he leaned against the desk behind him. “You shouldn’t use that Haijiku…” He shook his head. “The Emissary of Tragedy is dangerous. More dangerous than you know…”
I turned my back to him and looked up at the wall for a long time. “It’s the only Dioscuri weapon I have lying around…”
“Yeah, the fact that it’s pretty much the only weapon in the world that Warthor is afraid of has nothing to do with you having it ‘lying’ around.” Joshua shook his head and paused so long that an uncomfortable silence descended on the room. “I know you aren’t Dirge.” His voice was soft but determined, like a butterfly flapping against the wind. “But Shirajirashii is your weapon.”
I didn’t say anything. I didn’t have to. The conversation was over, and we both knew it. “Okay, let’s go find us a demon. Maybe we’ll be able to exorcise him,” I said hopefully.
“Why not? I’m sure it’ll be easy to send that demon back to Hell… it’s not like Wyrm had to work hard to get out.” Joshua’s voice was etched with anger as though he had taken everything in and still disapproved.
I sputtered and nearly tripped. My lungs tightened as I whirled around. “You can’t be serious…”
Joshua smiled. “Of course I am.”
I shook my head and sat down abruptly. Wyrm was the first dragon and had been slain by Dar Silver-tongue. That was why they needed the baby’s blood to make the Demonslayer. They weren’t trying to harness the power of just any demon… no, that would have been too easy. I shivered and tried to stop my hands from shaking. They had tried to harness power from the first dragon. A creature so evil… so destructive…
“Okay,” I said, hoping that my voice sounded tougher to Joshua than it did to me. My heart was pounding. My palms were sweating. Hell, the damned demon just escaped and was strong enough to take out Bob. If Wyrm was able to regain his full power… we were screwed.
“Without Shirajirashii to trap it, exorcism is the only way to stop him. He is already dead; you can’t kill something that’s already dead.”
I ground my teeth together in anger. “Hmm… I think I might have something that will kill him, but we can’t miss. I only have two shots.”
Joshua stared at me, mouth open in disbelief as I walked across the room and pulled up a floorboard. Hidden inside was a small safe. I had spent a long time warding and protecting it so nothing could get inside. I pressed my hand to the handle and murmured a few choice words. It opened to reveal an old single-action revolver. I picked it up, spun the chamber, and loaded it with the last two bullets.
“And where did you get that?” His eyes had narrowed into slits as he watched me stick the gun into my overcoat.
“None of your business.” My voice was icy even though I hadn’t meant for it to be.
“Is that really it?” he asked finally. “The gun they say was crafted from the Ark of the Covenant?”
“Yeah… it’s that same gun. The one that had bullets forged from the nails that they used to impale Christ. If this thing can’t kill it, nothing can.”
Chapter 28
Tracking Wyrm down had not been terribly difficult. Devastation spread out in its wake for what seemed like miles. Plumes of violent, black smoke sprung from the destroyed cars that littered the streets. A geyser of water shot into the air from what had once been a fire hydrant.
I shook my head and glanced at Joshua who put a finger to his mouth. I heard it then, just the tiniest scream, the smallest yelp, and I took off running. The pain in my thigh flared up, and I struggled to ignore it.
Something deep inside me flinched at the sight of broken bodies and burning buildings. The stink of sulfur hung heavy and cloying in the air. Goosebumps rose all over my body. Overhead, the meteors sat in the sky, leering at me in a half-hearted sort of way as if taunting me to deal with them later. I clenched my good hand.
“Don’t worry. I’m here now,” Joshua said, taking my hand in his. Part of me wanted to pull my hand away… but the other part? The other part was glad he was with me. I did not like that other part.
“I wasn’t worried,” I grumbled.
As the street forked off, the rank smell of blood and death hung thicker than the smog in the air. I coughed and wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my overcoat. It smelled as though garbage had been left in the sun for days.
I tried to take a deep breath, but it got caught in my throat. The creature in front of me was massive in the way that elephants were massive. Tufts of sickly, yellow hair sprouted all over its enormous mottled gray-purpl
e hide. Its face was a mask of slavering teeth and jutting black horns. It turned toward us and howled and the heavens thundered above us.
Wyrm’s beady, narrow eyes settled on me as he raised one large, distended warty arm and pointed a black talon at me. “Once I kill you, all will look at me and say ‘is that not the one who slaughtered Lillim Callina and Joshua Landers, gods among men?’” Wyrm’s voice shook me. It sounded like a baby screaming.
My palms began to sweat, and the hairs on the nape of my neck stood at attention. I gripped the shotgun beneath my overcoat so hard that my knuckles turned white from the effort. With a deep breath, I pulled the gun out and aimed it at the creature. Wyrm threw his head back and chortled.
I took a quick step back and gulped down the rising sea of fear in my throat. When Wyrm had first entered our world it had been far weaker than it was now, and that was just a few hours ago. Now I was injured. Joshua had used a few spells to speed up the healing process, but I knew that just a few minutes of exertion would pretty much cause my body to burn out.
I gulped, glanced at Joshua, and gave him my best smile of confidence. Wyrm laughed and with a flick of his wrist, skeletons burst from the corpses that had surrounded us moments before. Standing, they began to howl.
Wyrm lashed out at me, and I barely managed to block its claws with the barrel of my shotgun. My feet skidded backward through the ash, and I fired the gun into its torso. Wyrm flung his hand out. The shot stopped in midair then flew back at me.
“No!” Joshua grabbed me by the scruff of my collar and jerked me out of the buckshot’s path.
I crashed into the ground and pain exploded through my burned hand. I gritted my teeth as I struggled not to scream. Stars danced before me.
“A weapon like that will never hurt me.” Wyrm’s lips curled devilishly, and the skeletons broke out into staccato laughter as he spun to bring his massive tail down upon me. “You can never hope to defeat me with sheer physical strength alone!”
“Reishi no hontai,” I yelled. I forced all of my pain into the palms of my hands and threw it into the very center of Wyrm’s back as his tail split the asphalt next to me. An incredible crack resounded through the air, echoing into the crowds of slavering skeletons that watched with empty eye sockets.
The thick chitin that covered Wyrm’s body exploded outward in a burst of blood and flame. Still the demon looked down at me and began to laugh. With an absent swat he sent me flying backward. I crashed into the ground as the laughter of the skeletons drowned out all other sound.
“Time to go back to Hell demon.” Joshua’s hand was out-stretched. Huge rocks of burning magic appeared in the sky above us and began to slam mercilessly into the creature, pounding the once hilly area into a ragged, glassy crater. Yet still there was laughter. It grew ever more hideous and abrasive with each passing moment. I crawled to my knees, chest heaving as I greedily sucked in air. Joshua pointed the barrels of his guns at the smoking crater. It was as though he fully expected his foe to emerge unhurt, yet was afraid to burst into the realm of smoke to find out for sure.
A form began to move in the crater. I could scarcely believe the sight before me as the body picked itself up and took a step from the dust. Half of its face was curled into a disgusting snarl. The other half had been peeled back to reveal the bone beneath. Blood oozed from what flesh remained attached to its bony frame.
“I won’t lie to you, Joshua.” The demon raised its arms high. “That stung.”
Wyrm spun, flinging a spear of bone that appeared in his hand at Joshua. The deadly weapon smacked into Joshua’s chest in an explosion of black smoke and pinned him against the remnants of a car. Joshua wheezed once as smoke trickled from his mouth and very slowly his guns fell from his hands and hit the ground.
“I forgot that one bleeds smoke. It’s so much less satisfying than hot, slick blood.” Wyrm turned to me and his half-skeletal face twisted into a grin. “Somehow, I think killing you will be more satisfying.”
“Joshua!” As he slumped lifelessly against the car something broke inside me. I screamed. My vision blurred and I leapt forward slamming my bandaged fist into the demon’s face. Pain shot through my hand, white-hot, but Wyrm stood there, looking at me as though I’d hit him with a feather.
“You were lucky to have Joshua there to defeat me before. Few have ever done so, but to truly defeat me is impossible,” Wyrm snarled. He grabbed me around the throat and lifted me into the air. “I’m… I’m starting to feel elated; I can feel the happiness flow through me as your life is being extinguished, Lillim Callina. You are giving me great pleasure this day.” Wyrm’s voice was a soft coo in my ear as he squeezed my throat harder. “And to think, once you are dead we can relive this pleasure in Hell, day after day, until the end of eternity.”
“Joshua…” My vision began to fade as my left hand searched frantically beneath my overcoat. Metal found my hand and I tried to draw my revolver, but it was so very heavy. “Joshua… please… please, Joshua… please…” The weapon clattered to the floor as I slumped forward. Everything was filling with inky blackness as my lungs struggled, burning for air.
I felt Joshua’s warmth wrapping around me. I felt his hand close over mine, closing my fingers over the gun, placing it against the creature’s chest. I felt the recoil of the blast rip through my hand as I fired.
The sound of crashing thunder exploded across the horizon. The thunder grew to a crescendo. Wyrm dropped me and staggered backward. I slumped to the ground, gasping mouthfuls of air down my ravaged throat.
Wyrm fell to his knees. The demon screamed in agony. The skeletons around me dropped lifelessly to the ground as rain began to fall. There was a flash of lightning as I fired the last bullet into the demon’s skull. He twitched once, flopping backward as his body began to dissolve.
The rain stopped, and the sky lightened. The meteors still hung there in a bemused sort of way as if to tell me not to be too happy. I looked down at my hand. I was no longer holding my gun. I was holding a piece of carved wood. The same one Joshua had been carving earlier.
My jaw dropped, and my eyes darted to the spot where Joshua had been pinned to the car. His corpse wasn’t there. Even the bony spike that had impaled him was gone. The street looked perfectly normal. Everything looked normal. There was no trace of the smoking ruin I had been standing in moments before. My clothing and skin were free of ash. I grabbed my hurt thigh and was stunned by the complete absence of pain.
I shut my eyes and tried my best to stop my head from pounding. It was clear what had happened. In the past, I had seen Joshua use his power, and I knew all the signs. His illusions were nearly perfect. The only details was a very slight shimmer around the edges. Maybe because Wyrm had been involved I hadn’t been paying enough attention. It didn’t matter anymore. Joshua had used his power over illusions to make up the entire thing with Bob, Logan, and Wyrm. No wonder the other demons called him things like Loki and trickster.
“Damn you, Joshua!” I screamed. He’d been after my special gun the entire time. I wasn’t sure how he had even known I possessed it, but somehow, I should have protected such a valuable weapon a bit more. At the first thought of Wyrm I’d grabbed the most powerful thing in existence and… He knew exactly what I’d do. He knew me well… but not that well.
I turned and stared at the meteors looming over me, huge and massive. For the moment I was glad that I had something to focus on other than Joshua’s betrayal and my missing gun. Because if I thought about it for even one more second, thought about how he had purposely used Caleb’s image to frighten me, I was going to kill him. I would throw Joshua from the top of Mount Olympus, and I would suck the marrow from his bones. My wrath would be a hell of brambles and fire.
I would… I would…
I broke then. I’m not proud to say it, but I did. I fell to my knees in the middle of the street pawing, gasping for breath. I screamed and cried and howled. Gut wrenching pain tore me up and left me raw. The only reason he’d wan
ted to find me was to use me for his own agenda. That was why Warthor had kidnapped Mattoc. If Mattoc had been with me, he would have seen through the illusion…
Hell, if Warthor hadn’t locked down my ethereal sight, I’d have seen through the illusion. Had that been the start of everything? Had Joshua merely been playing along to Warthor’s tune? If he was… did that make it okay? No, no it didn’t.
I knew Joshua didn’t want me, but deep down inside there was always hope… My heart broke, and it crushed me down until I was nothing but a raw nub of hurt. But I had to stand. I had to draw the hot sticky pain into myself and push it down to the depths of my toes.
Later it would hit me far harder than I could prepare for, but right now I had to stop some meteors and slay a dragon. Fortunately, I was pretty sure I knew who had summoned the meteors. Joshua’s theft had made it only too obvious. It was a situation designed to make me pull out the gun that I’d used to end the Dioscuri civil war and only one person knew me well enough to have planned it: Warthor Ein.
Chapter 29
Rain came down in shimmering sheets that painted the hills into a dreary, gloomy scrawl. At the end of the street stood a tall house with a whitewashed sign that, at some point, might have contained vibrant lettering. Now, however, it was reduced to faded, unreadable calligraphy.
For many years the house on the hill had been a stopping point for wayward travelers. It existed in between all realms. This house was a crossroads. From here, any place could be reached, even those hidden deep within the nether.
The house on the hill was governed by a simple rule. Any creature, regardless of origin, was unable to commit violence within. Those that tried would answer to the one man who ran the house on the hill. He was a man who was said to see into a person’s very soul, and sometimes, even into the past lives of that soul.
Kill It With Magic: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 1) Page 15