by John Corwin
"Elyssa," Thomas said in a commanding voice.
She jabbed a finger in his face. "Don't you dare Elyssa me, Father. You'd better tell me right now what you have planned."
I sighed. "I'm going to take a malaether crucible and detonate it in Daelissa's face."
A fierce grin stretched her lips. "I'm going with you."
"But, I'm taking a broom—"
"Do you really think I wouldn't secretly practice broom riding so I could show you up later?" Elyssa showed her teeth. "I made Bella teach me." She looked me up and down. "You're exhausted. You need me."
"Elyssa," Thomas said again.
"Father, this is my decision, not yours." She glared at him as if daring him to contradict her.
Thomas stiffened. "You're right. Together, you have a better chance at getting back alive." He crushed Elyssa in a bear hug. "I love you, daughter, and I'm very, very proud of you." He pulled away, an uncertain look on his face as if he couldn't believe he'd just shown so much emotion. He quickly masked it. "Please come back in one piece."
She kissed him on the cheek. "I will do my best." Elyssa turned to me. "Justin, when I say I love you, it means I'm all in, for better or worse. Maybe one day you'll get that through your thick skull."
Some of the anguish melted away. I didn't want her to die if things went wrong, but just knowing she'd be there gave me the extra hope and determination that might get us back alive. "I love you so damned much."
She punched me in the shoulder. "I know. Let's go. I want to see the look on Daelissa's face when I smack it with a malaether crucible."
I touched my comm pendant. "Lanaeia, I need your broom on the command platform, stat!"
"On my way," she replied. Seconds later, she drifted to a halt next to my broom. "Here I am."
I headed toward her. "Excellent. Elyssa needs your broom. Can you stay and help here?"
"Of course." She gave me a curious look. "What are you planning to do?"
"Something drastic." I hopped on the broom and zipped down to the blue crate.
True to her word, Elyssa kept up without a problem. She got off and opened the crate to reveal two glass orbs about twice the size of my head, each glowing with malignant light. She took a cloth sack and secured it to the back of her broom.
"Maybe we should take a flying carpet with a camouflage spell," I said. "We could get it right next to her and detonate it."
"Too slow." Elyssa rummaged in one of the other chests and withdrew two silver bracelets. She tapped them together once and tossed one to me. "These light-benders will conceal us. I linked them together so we can see each other while they're on. They only hold about a twenty minute charge, though."
"It won't take us that long to reach her," I said.
She snapped the bracelet on her wrist. "I can throw the crucible about a hundred feet. Can you detonate it from that far out?"
"Maybe." I gave her a serious look. "Elyssa, I might be too tired. Even if I detonate it, I can't shield us from the blast. I'm practically useless."
"In other words, I have to literally hit Daelissa or someone near her hard enough to crack this crucible open." She swung into the boomstick saddle. "I guess that's what I'll have to do."
"That means once you throw it, we'll have to fly for our lives before it hits."
She bit her lower lip, nodded. "I know." Elyssa glanced toward the front lines as the goliaths began to open fire on our besieged troops. "We've got to do this now before everyone is dead." She activated her bracelet and shimmered out of sight.
I tapped mine. Light rippled around my body, turning it into a blur. Elyssa's shape became visible a few seconds later as the linked bracelets recognized each other. I got onto my broom and gripped the throttle. "Let's go."
We sped low across the ground keeping behind the giant pyramids and then hung a left where the sphinx had carved a valley through the jungle. I spotted Daelissa's cloudlet several hundred yards away, high in the air behind the goliaths. Setting my sights on her, I angled up so we could approach from below.
A formation of archangels left another of the large cloudlets and looped outward. One of them suddenly pointed at us.
I looked back to see if there was something behind us, but saw nothing except the smoking remains of the sphinx and a goliath. "He can't see us, can he?"
Elyssa peered at him. "Not unless—"
The archangels unsheathed their vjaltis. One of them threw a glowing blue orb. It detonated, sending an electrical shockwave hundreds of yards in all directions. Our camouflage flickered away.
I realized the lead archangel wore a strange pair of rose-tinted spectacles. Since Seraphim didn't typically need eyeglasses, that could only mean the spectacles enabled them to see through magical camouflage.
"So much for Plan A," Elyssa growled.
"Give me the crucible," I said. "I'm going to ram it down Daelissa's throat."
"You're not doing this alone!" Elyssa gave me a sad look. "I guess this is it, isn't it?"
I choked up with sudden grief. It took everything I had not to turn the broom around and run, if only to save Elyssa. "Underborn's stupid foreseeance was right. Maybe we can run for it."
"We can't run, Justin. If we do, she'll hunt us and those we love for the rest of our lives."
I swallowed the hard lump in my throat and nodded. "For the people we love. For family. For Eden."
"For Bella, Nightliss, our parents, our siblings, and even Harry Shelton." Elyssa bared her teeth in a fierce grin. "We have plenty of people worth dying for."
"That's for damned sure." Purpose surged through my veins. "Let's go put the Die in Daelissa."
Elyssa narrowed her eyes. "I'm with you to the end."
I extended my middle finger toward the oncoming archangels. Their numbers had grown as reinforcements closed on our position. "We'll have to dodge these jackasses."
"Are we fast enough?"
"They're fast, but they can't juke a flying broom."
Two of the goliaths turned toward us and the odds suddenly grew worse. We had no choice but to duck into the jungle and try to lose pursuit, or fly high enough to avoid the goliaths. A flock of black-winged vampires flew up from one of the cloudlets and came toward us. My supernatural vision recognized the skeletally thin vampires at once.
"Those are the ancient vampires." Confidence abandoned my voice.
Elyssa shouted a filthy word. "I know for a fact they're as agile as our brooms."
There was no way we could reach Daelissa. We were done.
Chapter 37
"I don't think we can punch through them." I slowed my broom and stared at the encroaching enemy.
Tears filled Elyssa's eyes. "No! We can't let everyone die." She stared daggers at these new obstacles. "We have no choice but to try. Even if we don't kill Daelissa, we'll take out everything she's throwing at us. Maybe we can get close enough to hurt her."
I turned toward her. "Is it worth it?"
"If we do nothing, we die." She wiped the moisture from her eyes. "I won't let her take us without a fight."
I looked at the jungle below. "Okay. Let's do it smart though. We'll dive into the jungle and—"
My comm pendant crackled and Shelton's voice came over it. "Justin, you idiot! Stop!"
"Where are you? How did you know—" I looked around in confusion.
"Everyone knows! They saw you the minute the archangels blew your camo." Shelton sighed. "You're really lucky you have a friend like me." He started laughing maniacally. "You ready to see Daelissa crap her pants?"
Elyssa and I shared a confused look.
"Yes?"
"Then look behind you."
I looked back toward the destroyed sphinx and saw an open portal. Shelton stepped out, set something on the ground, and backed away. One of his huge doors unfolded. Despite the trampled trees, it managed to stay upright.
"Oh," he said, "you might want to scoot to the side."
The door swung open to reveal a gargantuan battle
bot. Chrome body gleaming magnificently, it stepped through the door, huge feet quaking the ground. Massive guns jutted from its arms. Missile turrets sprang from its shoulders the moment it cleared the door. Behind it marched another battle bot, and behind it another. They were shorter than the goliaths, but proved more agile as they raced through the doorway.
After eleven of them emerged, another five giant spider bots scuttled through. Behind them came a squadron of people on shiny silver rocket sticks, all armed with a variety of intimidating weapons.
"Let me introduce Science Academy, bitches!" Shelton cried through the comm pendant.
I was still in shock. "Underborn did it?"
"That he did." Shelton whooped.
I felt an evil grin stretching my lips and turned toward the enemy. The vampires and archangels held position, shocked looks clear on their faces. All four goliaths rotated toward us.
Shelton cried a command. "Battle bots, engage!"
"By your command," the bots replied in their cybertronic voices. Every one of them launched a salvo of mini-missiles at airborne enemies. The archangels fled, but couldn't outrun the projectiles. Explosions rocked the air. Smoking bodies plunged earthward. Only the vampires remained unaffected.
"Must be heat-seeking missiles," I said. "The vampires aren't warm-blooded."
The battle bots fired brilliant yellow lasers at the vampires, turning some of them to ash. The ancient creatures scattered in panic. The spider bots crawled with the fluid grace of their organic counterparts toward the oncoming goliaths, firing missiles and lasers. The projectiles slammed into the behemoths, rocking the nearest back so hard, it collapsed. The battle bots joined the fight. Two of them sprinted to the next goliath. Each gripped a leg and jerked. The goliath crumbled at the crotch and fell apart. Another leapt high with the aid of a jetpack and tore the head from a third behemoth.
The squadron of rocket-stick pilots streaked toward the ground forces and began pummeling the enemy from behind and above with a lightshow of lasers and death rays.
"Daelissa is getting away!" Elyssa shouted.
I looked skyward and saw her cloudlet fleeing. "After her!" I jetted forward.
"Are you strong enough to fight her?" Elyssa shouted over the roar of the wind.
I hadn't even thought about it, but there was no doubt in my mind about the answer. "No. I'm too tired." We grew closer and closer. I saw Daelissa red-faced and screaming at a short blond woman I recognized as Serena.
"If you feed off of me, would that help?" Elyssa asked.
Magical exhaustion couldn't be completely sated by feeding—even it required sleep—but if I drew from Elyssa, I might have a small chance of fighting Daelissa to a stalemate until help arrived.
I looked at her. "I'll have to suck it in fast. You'll feel very drained."
Black hair flying wild in the wind, she held out her arms. "Take what you need. I am your dark light." Her words echoed a foreseeance I'd long forgotten.
I extended both hands and opened myself fully. Inky black and brilliant white shot from her fingers and into mine. I tensed hard and drew on her soul essence like a thirsty man sucking on a straw. Elyssa gasped, but maintained her balance on the boomstick. After a few more seconds, I sensed her weakening and released the connection.
Elyssa slumped forward, white-faced. She gripped the broom with both hands and managed a weak smile. "Kick her ass, baby."
Strength surged in me. I grinned. "As you wish." We were within fifty yards of the fleeing cloudlet. A torn flap of my Nightingale armor flapped in my face. I retracted the torso so I could see. Daelissa wasn't alone. From here, I made out Serena, Arturo, and two other archangels.
A shimmering gateway opened in the air and I realized with horror that they were about to escape. Daelissa might go into hiding for another two thousand years until she figured out how to raise another army.
I leaned forward and put up a thin shield of Murk in front of the boomstick for better aerodynamics. My velocity increased ever so slightly. Just as the cloudlet reached the gateway, I leapt off the broom and flew through the air. A startled archangel shouted as I slammed into him. His body bounced off Daelissa and sent her careening to the left and toward the edge. I saw a seraph standing in a cave on the other side of the gateway, presumably in Thunder Rock. I blasted him in the chest with Brilliance, focused on the gateway, and willed it to close. It vanished.
Serena gave me a curious look from the other side of the large platform. "You are very persistent." She jotted something on a notepad, looked over the side of the cloudlet, and promptly jumped off. A second later, she flitted away on my broom with the malaether crucible still inside the saddlebag. My boomstick must have drifted there after I jumped off.
Arturo and his remaining companion drew swords and advanced on me. Their wings briefly flared behind them but soon sputtered out.
"Looks like you're too tired to fly."
Arturo spat. "You are still no match—"
I didn't give him time to finish that sentence. Using all my demonic speed, I blurred between him and the other seraph. I knocked his buddy off the edge with a roundhouse, ducked, and slammed Arturo in the chest. He staggered backward. A quick blast of Murk gave him enough momentum to fall screaming off the other side to the ground far, far below. Without wings, he was in for a hard landing.
I spun to see the biggest threat to my existence pulling herself up over the edge of the cloudlet after the seraph's body had nearly knocked her off. Daelissa's eyes blazed with Brilliance. She scratched furiously at her right hand. "You have doomed yourself, boy. Have you forgotten how powerful I am?"
I pinched my forehead. "I don't remember. On a scale from kiss my ass to arrogant bitch, how powerful are you?" As I spoke, I drew in aether. Experience had taught me well what to expect from Daelissa.
She didn't disappoint.
With a scream of rage, she unleashed a massive torrent of destruction so bright, it nearly blinded me. I dodged left and wove a beam of gray Stasis, meeting her attack in the middle. Her energy shattered like ice. Unfortunately, Daelissa was rested and full of piss and vinegar. I couldn't maintain the same level of energy. She scowled and redoubled her efforts. Even as her sizzling death beam broke into shards against Stasis, it slowly gained ground.
Mom, Ivy, someone, I need help! I hoped Elyssa had contacted someone who could come to my aid.
"You are weak, boy." Daelissa's scowl turned to a smile. "You cannot hope to destroy a goddess. Nothing can defeat the light." She pushed back the Stasis until only a few feet remained between me and incineration.
I decided it was time to rely on something besides magic. I released the channeled energy and dove right. My hyper instincts engaged and time seemed to slow. Sprinting at top speed, I blurred to her side. Most humans would have appeared in slow motion to me, but Daelissa hardly seemed affected and raked the death beam toward me. I reached her just as the heat from it began to singe my arm hair.
My fist connected with her jaw.
Blood sprayed. The channeled Brilliance vanished. I didn't let up. Putting everything I had into the next blow, I socked her in the temple. Daelissa spun like a top and went down in a boneless heap.
I hated hitting women, but Daelissa was one of those people who made it easy to break that rule. I despised her so much I didn't even pause when I raised my hands over my head for the killing blow. She lay supine, eyes rolled into the back of her head, hands splayed to the side. She looked so much like Nightliss, that it caused me to pause half a heartbeat. Her right hand twitched, and I noticed a strange bulge in the palm where the flesh looked as if she'd scratched it raw.
I grabbed her hand and looked closer. Something was lodged in the flesh. Manifesting into part demon form, I extended a sharp black claw and sliced open the skin. A bloody crystalline object sparkled as if lit with an inner light. Using my claws, I tried to pry it loose, but it wouldn't come out. It looked familiar, but with so much blood seeping into the wound, I couldn't make i
t out.
Daelissa screeched and punched me hard in the stomach. Before I could react, she threw me several feet away and climbed to her feet.
"You have violated me!" She raised her bleeding hand in the air. "You profane, despicable speck! I am divine! I am a goddess! You cannot win!"
Bracing for her next attack, I bared my demonic teeth. "Goddess?" I spat. "You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means. A goddess doesn't bleed, you warthog-faced buffoon."
She screamed and blasted a wave of death toward me. I leapt high, channeled my angel wings, and levitated. The barrage narrowly missed my lower extremities. The remnants of my Nightingale armor couldn't keep out the heat. The soles of my feet felt flash-fried. Almost without thinking, I retaliated with a blast of Brilliance. My inner demon roared with ecstasy and lunged for sole possession of my consciousness.
Insatiable hunger filled me, buttressed by deep red rage. The demon drew on Brilliance like an infant sucking on a bottle of milk and channeled everything at Daelissa. The attack threw her backward. I roared with pleasure.
Get out of my head, you idiot!
I'd had an internal dialogue with my demon side a while back and figured we'd settled things once and for all. Apparently, it had no intention of ever passing up a chance to be the boss of me. My inner demon tried to draw on more Brilliance, and suddenly realized that it had screwed up big time. As a Seraphim, I could directly channel aether without storing it, but burning through the rarified soul essence gained from feeding on humans diminished my power. My demon side had burned through nearly everything in one go.
I used the moment of confusion to take back control and slammed it back into its cage. My body morphed back to human form. Daelissa climbed to her feet, a maniacal gleam in her eye. She had the power to finish me off right here and now and there wasn't much I could do to stop her unless I leapt off the cloudbank.
Daelissa laughed. "Pitiful. You attacked me with everything and failed. You cannot kill an immortal, boy. My light outshines yours." A misty wall of Brilliance formed in front of her. "You have nothing left to fight me with. I will make your final seconds long and painful."