Charles looked back and noticed her departure. Knowing of her mood swings, Charles did not bother to follow. He thought, ‘She needs some fresh air.’
Claudius was fascinated by Dawn’s performance. He took off his headphones to enjoy the show.
Nathan looked at him and shook his head.
Garrison smiled and rested a hand on Claudius’ shoulder, but Claudius did not take his eyes off of Dawn. He closed everyone else out and focused on her.
As Ella and Sam chitchatted with the commissioner, the mayor joined them. The young lady’s performance ended, and the announcer introduced the mayor.
“Ladies and gentleman, I want to thank you for your patience. My name is Edward Skyler, mayor of New York City.”
Cheers and applaud erupted.
“As you all know, this gathering was assembled to introduce a new technology that is supposed to change the twenty-first century. William Van Crouzer has introduced a new form of alloy that will help the public use less energy. This alloy is said to feed off of solar energy. I bet the power companies are not too happy about that.” The mayor giggled. “I introduce the man Time magazine named industrialist of the decade: Mr. William Van Crouzer.”
Cheers and applaud erupted again.
A smiling man in his late thirties walked onto the stage. He wore a black suit and had a goatee and a bowl haircut. He was six foot two.
Claudius could tell the man was a force to be reckoned with. His demeanor was somewhat petrifying. He felt a familiar sensation and he wondered what it was about.
Peter was paying close attention. He wondered why Gabilon was catering to the public—and what he would gain from it. Gabilon was the most dangerous of the fallen ones, and they had been partners in crime. He was one of Gabilon’s lead conquerors. Peter was the one to lead souls to the underworld before the ninth century BC. He knew him very well; Gabilon was always up to something vile.
Peter knew something was now definitely wrong when he saw a priest from Father Davis’ church. The priest stood on the corner street, and he was calm as he looked around. Seem to be looking for someone. Peter knew priests were not drawn to environments like that. He watched the priest to see his next move.
Gloria got to the corner of Seventh and West Forty-Sixth Street to get away from the cheering spectators. She needed a moment to get some air. She reached in her purse and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. As she lit one up, she saw a silhouette of a man looking down from the Palace Theatre. She wondered what the person was doing. She hoped it wasn’t a suicide attempt because her cameraman was not there to catch the footage. The person seemed to be enjoying the show as he calmly watched on the projectors.
But then, the ground trembled slightly and stopped.
Gloria paused for a moment and looked around to see if anyone else felt it. No one seemed to have felt the tremor. She wondered if she was just imagining things. She felt a much stronger tremor, and the crowd began to mumble. A longer vibration caused a few of the advertising screens to blank out. As sparks flew out of them, the crowd began to panic and head down Broadway.
“Everyone, stay calm.” Crouzer suggested.
Garrison, Nathan, and Talia started moving away from the panicking crowd.
Claudius looked back at them with a puzzled expression.
Ella looked around and wondered if it was an earthquake.
Sam grabbed Ella and pulled her inside a doorway. Debris and dust fell from the buildings as they slowly cracked.
And then, The street began to part like the Red Sea. A large hole opened in the middle of Forty-Seven Street. Many automobiles and civilians fell into it.
Without thinking, Ella rushed out to aid them.
Sam held onto her. “What’re you doing? You can’t save them. Let’s get out of here.”
She pulled her hand away. “We have to help them. Those people need our help.”
A vile creature resembling a white octopus shot out from underground. It was wide as three water tanks put together and had hundreds of tentacles. Its eyes were plucked out and healed, looking as if someone had tortured it long ago. It spread its body, hung onto light poles and billboards, grabbed the fleeing civilians, and pulled them into its mouth. Its mouth was like a black hole; when they fell in, they disappeared into darkness. The tentacles were bizarre, and the suction cups began to rob its victims of their vigor. The victim’s bodies began to darken as the demon sucked them dry.
Ella dropped to her knees at the sight of the creature. She looked above the demon and saw a figure falling down in its direction. The person pulled a sword from his back and chopped a few of the tentacles off, releasing a few of the civilians.
The creature screamed in torment as its limbs were detached. Blood and flesh fell on the civilians and onto the ground.
“That’s Peter,” Ella whispered. She pulled Sam’s arm and screamed, “Peter is helping them!”
Ella dashed off in the direction of the carnage, and Sam chased behind her. She looked to Peter’s left and saw five fearful looking men prowling up on the tentacles. They wore red and black armor, and they began to shoot white laser beams at him.
Peter stopped slicing the creature’s limbs to deflect the beams. He threw his sword and struck one of his attackers in the chest and fire at the other two with his pistol. Two of the demonic-looking men were in his blind spot shooting at him as he dashed to grab his sword. He fired at them to stop the assault.
Ella wanted to scream to warn Peter after she saw a tentacle heading his way to crush him, but her throat was too dry.
One of the men punched Peter and sent him flying into the crowd bellow.
Ella screamed and ran in his direction.
***
“Nathan, stop Gevurah from harming Minosa,” Dabney Garrison said. “Go now!”
Nathan smirked after he took off his fitted shirt and handed it to Talia. “Watch and learn. This will not be like the last time, tovarisch.” He looked in Claudius’ direction before he pressed the switch to activate his antibiosis armor. The demonic alloy covered him, and he created four replicas. He rushed in to do battle with Peter.
“Father? Do you mean we’re gonna stand back and watch these people get hurt?” Claudius asked.
“This was what I spoke of earlier. Minosa is collecting souls to bring back to hell to fulfill the Dark Lord’s goal.”
“This is not right, Father. We can’t do it this way—”
“Shut up, boy. You’re either with us or against us.” Garrison’s glare was spine chilling at his son.
Claudius frowned and then he looked away. As his father resumed to watch the slaughter, he slowly backed away from them.
Garrison looked over his shoulder and said, “Claudius?”
By then, Claudius had blended in with the crowd.
“That brat is going to ruin our plans,” Garrison said.
Talia asked, “Do you think I should go after him, sir?”
“No. Nathan may need your help. Gevurah cannot be underestimated. He did defeat Beruser.”
Claudius climbed up on the billboards in Times Square and pulled himself up. He could hear the sirens heading in his direction. Though many police officers were assisting the civilians, they could use any extra help they could get. Hundreds of civilians were injured. Some had passed out in shock. Claudius knew he had to do something to help.
He jumped onto the side of a building and headed in the direction of Minosa.
Claudius looked around, trying to figure out how he could help. But then, he saw someone familiar in the crowd. He gasped after he saw Dawn laying in the street below. She was inches away from getting trampled. He jumped down and landed beside Dawn. The civilians bumped into him and knocked him to the ground, but he crawled over to shield her from getting trampled. “Dawn, wake up.” Claudius shook her. “Are you okay?”
She did not respond.
Claudius checked for a pulse and her breathing. He was grateful she was okay. Gently, he raised her to a sitting position. “Dawn,
wake up.”
She opened her eyes. “What’s going on?”
Dawn jumped and grabbed Claudius after she saw Minosa. They both stood up and prepared to dash off. Before they got far enough the demon grabbed Dawn’s leg and tripped her. It began to pull her and Claudius jumped to grab her hand. Both were being hauled into the creature’s mouth.
“Hang on. Don’t let go.” Claudius had apprehension in his voice.
Claudius heard the clank from a sword and he looked up. He saw a man in a black and red coat with orange hair chopped the tentacle that was pulling them. Claudius heard Minosa scream in agony as the severed tentacle began to wiggle.
“Take the girl and go, kid!” The man commanded.
Claudius felt an overwhelming faculty within the stranger. The man’s gaze was piercing. He nodded and took off with Dawn. He looked back and saw Nathan attacking the hero who had saved him. Nathan and his four clones battled the man and over-powered him.
They ran a block away from the carnage, and he said, “Dawn, get out of here. I’m going to assist the civilians.”
She nodded and took off into the crowd. He watched her disappear into the crowd before he turned and faced the way he had came from.
Claudius reached into his pocket, put on the Xerox glove, and felt a surge of energy.
“Come on. How do I use this thing?” Claudius sounded frustrated.
***
Peter chopped down one of the men in the demonic armor, and he evaporated in thin air. ‘This must be one of the men Father Davis spoke of.’ Then another replaced him. He knew he was fighting clones and had to defeat the real one.
As he analyzed the situation on how to defeat the demonic warrior, Peter felt Minosa wrapped a tentacle around his torso. He struggled but the creature threw him aside.
Peter sailed helplessly toward a building, but somehow he became leveled and used the momentum to ricochet off the wall before he crashed into it.
Minosa threw a tentacle to block Peter’s way, but he chopped it off and continued his pursuit. The demon hollered, and Nathan turned to look. Before he could defend himself, Peter chopped his left arm off. Blood squirted from the wound as the arm fell two stories to the ground. Nathan screamed from torment, he staggered forward and fell toward Minosa’s mouth. The clones disappeared instantly.
“That took care of that one.” Peter landed in the street and looked up to see Nathan falling to his demise toward the black hole.
“Peter!”
The Demon Slayer turn to face where the cry had came from. He looked and saw Ella running toward him. He looked behind her and saw the blond male chasing behind her.
“Ella? What’re you doing here? It’s not save.” Peter rested his hands on her shoulders. “You need to get out of here.”
“I know but I had to see if you were okay.” Her breathing was repetitive as she looked around.
Sam joined up with them. “Zahara, we need to get out of here.” He looked at Peter and grinned. “Hi, Mr. Slayer.” His motions were apprehensive.
Swiftly, a tentacle shot toward Ella. She cried out, ducked, and covered her head. She looked up and saw Peter sliced it before it grabbed her. She felt disgusted after she saw the sever limp twitched on the street. She jumped behind Peter and held on to his arm when the limb seemed to be moving toward her.
“You two need to leave.” Peter ordered. He looked in Sam’s direction and said, “Sir, take her and go.”
Sam nodded and grabbed Ella’s hand; dragging her into the crowd. ‘He called me sir.’ Sam smiled and looked back at the Demon Slayer. He saw that he was watching them, making sure they did what he instructed.
Peter watched to see them disappeared before he prepare to free a few more civilians. But then, he felt something clamping down on his foot. He looked down and saw a horrific black slug with razor-sharp teeth. With his sword, Peter chopped the creature in half. Black blood and demonic flesh scattered on the street. He noticed another one shooting toward him like a snake. He jumped back to avoid it. Peter looked forward and saw a demonic figure in an indigo and black armor approaching him. The creature’s black headwear was featureless, without any openings to see, smell or taste. Peter thought it was odd and petrifying. He also noticed that the creature also had small metallic horns sticking out of its cheek, forearms, and thighs. In the armor, Peter noticed the creature had hips and breasts. ‘This must be a female version.’
“What are you?” Peter asked her.
“I’m a member of the Naraka Knights army.” Talia’s voice sounded fiendish in the armor; it rippled also.
“Gabilon is using you. Nothing good will come from your actions. You need to stop now or I will destroy you.” Peter words were candid.
“Your threats means nothing, Gevurah. Your life will end here.”
Talia had created a clone to assist Nathan. The clone had stretched a tar-like substance across to catch him from falling into Minosa’s mouth. The black substance slowly lowered him down to the street.
Peter knew he had to save as many people as possible. Three hundred feet away, he saw a man filming the battle. A woman was standing before him and talking into a microphone. “You two need to get out of here! Standing there is dangerous!”
They kept filming and reporting, which got the attention of the she-knight. She released a slug from her arm, heading toward them.
Peter aimed his pistol and fired a few rounds, but the slug dodged them easily. He swore under his breath and dashed off to aid them. He noticed the clone of the she-knight heading toward him also. His focus shifted to her and Peter sent a few rounds in its chest. It flew backward and disappeared.
Minosa tried to grab Peter’s feet before he could get to them, but he jumped over the tentacles and continued his pursuit. The cameraman ran off—almost dropped his camera—leaving the woman alone. She was in shock and fell to her knees, as the slug was inches away from devouring her.
Peter threw his sword –it twirled like a ninja star, trapping the slug demon on the ground. Peter watched the creature hissed and clenched its teeth at her. He grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder after Minosa launched a few more tentacles at them. He jumped twenty feet, and the she-knight sent a few more worms toward them. There were loud crashing sounds as the slugs collided with the building.
Peter prowled from side-to-side to avoid the black slugs, and they evaporated in black smoke.
When Peter reached the top of the building, he put the lady down.
The reporter pulled a tape recorder out of her purse. “Who are you? Where are you from and what are those things?”
“What?” Peter mumbled with a baffle look.
“My name is Gloria. What’s your name?”
“Peter.” He backed away from her.
Out of nowhere, one of the tentacles wrapped around Peter’s waist and pulled him over the side of the building.
Gloria ran to look over the edge and reached a hand out, but she did not manage to grab him.
Claudius rushed back to the horror, and his heart raced in his chest. Most of the civilians had gotten away, but some were not so lucky. He looked in the middle of the street and saw corpses with white eyes and foaming mouths. He was disgusted by the carnage around him. He could not believe his father would stand back and let this happen to these innocent people. Claudius thought it was a good time to get away. The Order was drawing too much heat. But he had doubts; he loved his friends and his father. He was not sure if he was ready to leave. They were the only family he had.
When Claudius got back to the area, he saw Nathan on the floor in his antibiosis armor.
Claudius ran over and said, “Nate, wake up.” He shook Nathan and noticed that his arm was detached. He was bleeding heavily. Claudius looked around for paramedics to help him.
Nathan sat up, holding his wound. “Claude, look around for my arm.”
Claudius saw the arm next to one of Minosa’s severed tentacles. He rushed over, grabbed it, and returned to Nathan’
s side. “What can you do with this arm? It’s useless.”
“Be quiet.” Nathan grabbed the arm and put it next to where it had been detached. “Just watch.” The limb slowly reattached to Nathan. Muscle, bone, and tissue grew out and attached to the arm—and the armor grew over it. Nathan extended his fingers to get the blood flowing back through them. It was not fully attached, but he rested his good arm on his shoulder and focused again. “There—I did it. Never thought it would work, but I’m happy I tried.”
Nathan snickered after he saw that Talia was battling Gevurah. Behind him, Minosa was absorbing the last souls in its possession and a few tentacles ran toward the fallen angel. “We can retreat for now. Minosa is finishing the job,”
“Nate, are you being serous right now? I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you. You sat back and watched all these innocent people’s lives get stolen. How could you?”
“You knew what our goals were when you first joined the Order. You knew Gabilon needed many human souls to get to the gates of heaven.”
“But I didn’t know he was going to do it this way. These people are innocent. They were tricked into coming here—and most of them are teenagers. They haven’t lived their lives as yet. We could’ve attacked Rikers Island and used the inmates for our goal. That would’ve been better.”
Nathan walked away. “What makes this any different? These people live their lives without regrets. Wasting their lives without faith or fear. They deserve it. They were careless and ungrateful.”
Claudius rushed over to Nathan and grabbed his arm. “I’ve known you for years, and I never knew you thought like this. I thought you had a heart.”
Nathan pushed Claudius aside, and he stumbled. “Now that we know we don’t share the same goals, I will alert your father of your words. Let’s go, Talia. Gevurah is finished.”
Peter was trapped in Minosa’s grasp and was being pulled up to his doom.
Nathan turned to Claudius again and sneered, “Let’s go, Claude. Your father is waiting.”
Hellbound Second Advent Page 9