Afterworld (The Orion Rezner Chronicles Book 1)

by Ploof, Michael James

  Dude moved to the first cell and peered through the bars. At least ten Cain children were inside. They looked like they hadn’t eaten regularly. I scoured the blood-stained faces for my sister but didn’t recognize her.

  “Go to the next one.”

  He went down the entire line of cells. Each one held between five and ten children, though they were only made to house two inmates. All in all, there were at least two hundred.

  “We got company, Rez!” said Johnny.

  “You’re on your own for a minute, Dude. Mushi’s calling.”

  The camera moved up and down, letting me know he understood.

  I exited the Hummer and looked for Mushiro, who wasn’t near the road as I’d expected. I found him on the other side of the truck, facing the woods.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  He nodded toward the forest.

  “I’m picking up a magic source just beyond that ridge, I think,” he whispered.

  I reached out with my magical senses, and sure enough, someone or something was giving off magical energy. It could have been a trinket or magical item, but it felt far too strong for that.

  “One of ours?” I asked, wondering where the hell the others were.

  “Maybe. Whoever it is, they’re getting closer.”

  I nudged Mushi and pointed left, at myself, and then right. He nodded, and we went in opposite directions to find suitable places to hide.

  We waited as the magical energy got closer. Sensing magic is hard to explain if you have never experienced it. The feeling is akin to knowing you’re being watched, but less vague. We can tell what direction the source is coming from, and the relative strength of the spell being used. This one was strong…very strong. I began to wonder if Mushiro and I could take whoever it was approaching us.

  I quietly retrieved one of my pistols and a wand, waiting and watching, the source getting closer every minute. Soon we heard the sound of someone—or something— hastily running through the woods. I licked my lips and mentally prepared a spell that would stun whatever was coming…hopefully. The noise grew louder, approaching directly between us. I began to wonder why I couldn’t see anyone from my vantage point. Perhaps they’re using an invisibility spell, like the one Mushi had cast on Dude. Motion suddenly caught my eye, and I nearly jumped.

  A squirrel came scampering out of the forest with a wand strapped to its back.

  Shit!

  I whirled around—too late—a fist hit me in the forehead and laid me out. I came to shortly after, Kronos’s ugly mug scowling down at me from above.

  “Have I taught you nothing?”

  I rubbed my forehead. “Jesus Christ, Kronos!” He offered me one of his impossibly large mitts. I regarded it skeptically and got up on my own.

  Mushi came over to us and laughed. “Rez, man, you got Kronos’s ring imprinted on forehead.”

  I mocked laughter and scowled at them both. “What are you doing here?” I asked Kronos.

  He raised a brow. “What I am doing here? Why you two idiots out here.” He pointed a fat finger at me. “You not allowed to use magic.”

  “All that bullshit can wait, Hammertime. We got bigger problems. There are hundreds of Cain children in that prison—Azazel has them captive.”

  He nodded. “We were prepared to move in when you showed up.”

  “We?”

  “Killroy, Maximillian…others.”

  I turned toward the Hummer. “We got Dude inside.”

  “We take from here. You go back.”

  I stopped and regarded him. “My sister might be in there—”

  “I give no shit, Rezner. You have direct order. Go.”

  “All due respect, Kronos, but screw you. I’m the one who found out about this place.”

  “Because demon show you in dreams—you played like puppet on string, idiot.”

  Mushi called from the Hummer. “You need to see this, Rez!”

  I was locked in Kronos’s hard gaze, contemplating what he’d said.

  “Rez!” Johnny yelled.

  I ran to the driver’s side of the Hummer and looked at the screen. The view was sideways, on the floor. “What happened?” I said.

  Kronos retrieved a headset and came around to look at the video as well. He put a headset to his ear and shook his head, no sound to be heard.

  “I don’t know, Rez. It was like this when I came back,” said Mushi.

  A big pair of boots came into view and someone picked up Dude cam. The camera spun around the room slowly and came to rest on Azazel’s Cain face. He grinned at the camera and the picture began to buzz and flicker.

  “Look what I’ve found.” He laughed. Even through Kronos’s headset, his hissing voice could be heard clearly.

  The camera turned slightly and revealed a Cain child of around twelve years old—Mary.

  “Owion!” she cried.

  I snatched the headset from Kronos and put it on. “Let her go and I’ll turn myself over to you.”

  Azazel shook his head. “If I wanted you, I would have you already. Where is Mr. Franklin?”

  Franklin? “I don’t know what you mean,” I said.

  He offered a disappointed scowl. “Are you trying to lie to me? Why do you think I came to you in the first place? Did you really think I would be interested in such a fool as yourself? I know that you are Ben’s newest pet. Tell him to come and I’ll release your sister.” Static threatened to overtake the frame.

  “We have unfinished business,” he added, just before the picture winked out.

  Chapter 20

  Old Enemies Die Hard

  I stared at the blank screen, unable to move. Mary was alive. I had to do something. I brushed past Kronos and ran a hand through my mop.

  “Why does demon speak of Franklin?” asked Kronos.

  I just deadpanned him.

  The realization of the possibility that maybe I wasn’t crazy seemed to wash over his face.

  I glanced around, wondering if Ben was out there somewhere. He never showed himself during the Crystal Lake mission, and I’d assumed he couldn’t leave Boston. Azazel seemed to think that he could. What did I know?

  “Hey Ben, you out there somewhere?” I asked.

  Johnny was still confused. “Rez, man…that shit’s real?”

  “Yeah, man. He’s real,” I told him.

  I watched and waited.

  Kronos and Mushiro said nothing.

  The wind glided across the tops of trees, leaving them swaying slightly. The weather had begun to turn, and the clear blue sky was being replaced by ever-thickening rain clouds. I wondered if Azazel had something to do with it.

  “Where are Father Killroy and the others?” I asked Kronos.

  “None of your concern,” he said bluntly. “You must leave.”

  “Have you been paying attention?” He was beginning to piss me off. “Azazel wants Old Ben for some reason. I have to find out why.”

  “He’s playing you. That’s not your sister—likely illusion.”

  I shook my head and turned from him. I didn’t have time for his shit. “Ben! Now would be a great time to show yourself.”

  “Enough! You will go n—”

  “Ben!” I screamed.

  Franklin suddenly appeared behind the Hummer. He regarded me with a pained look and glanced at Mushi. I moved toward him, but Kronos grabbed my arm.

  “You will follow orders!”

  A flash of light blinded me as Kronos was thrown back. He landed in a motionless lump, and I turned to Mushi, whose outstretched wand still had a wisp of smoke rising from the tip.

  “Mushi, what are you—”

  He pulled back the wand and hit me with a similar blast.

  I landed on my back as electricity coursed through my body, leaving me twitching. Ben moved between us.

  “Mushi…” I tried to focus my eyes. He glanced at me, uninterested, and then looked at Ben. His eyes were not his own, but that of a demon, pure black and unblinking.

&n
bsp; I wondered how long he’d been possessed and tried to think back through the day. Nothing stood out as strange, but acting is something demons excel at.

  He regarded Old Ben with a grin. “My master awaits. Defy his will and the young wizard will die.”

  Ben glanced down at me and then back to the demon and nodded.

  “Get up,” said the possessed Mushi. The spell released me and I regained control of my body, but he grabbed me by the back of the neck and pushed me toward the Hummer.

  “Try anything and he dies,” he said to Old Ben. Tossing me in the driver’s seat, he slammed the door and went around to get in on the other side. Ben appeared in the back and I stared at him in the rearview mirror. He offered only a solemn expression.

  “Drive,” said Mushi, pressing a gun to my temple.

  I backed up and drove down the road toward the two trucks. Guns were trained on us as we approached, and the black eyes of demons regarded us warily. Mushi said something to the others in a guttural language I’d never heard. They nodded and got in the trucks, backing them up enough for me to enter.

  “Drive,” he said again.

  I continued down the road, and we soon came to another barricade, just before the entrance to the prison. Mushi spoke again to the guards and we were allowed to pass. Through it all, Ben offered no indication of a plan. I occasionally looked at him in the rearview mirror, but he just sat there, head down. I knew that he didn’t like demons, and I was beginning to suspect why. He and Azazel seemed to have history.

  Mushi indicated a spot in front of the main entrance. “Park there.”

  I did as ordered and killed the engine. I knew Killroy, Maximillian, and Elder Witch Solomon were around somewhere. Hopefully they saw me even now. I had no choice but to go along with the demon’s commands. If he could take out Kronos, I stood no chance, and I didn’t plan on sitting this one out unconscious.

  Mushi came around and opened my door. “Walk.”

  I got out and headed for the front door. We were met by two more demons. They ignored me as we entered but gave Old Ben a wide berth. I had seen him in action against the demon who possessed the Marks kid—he was no joke when it came to ghostly powers. The demons’ aversion to him must have been a testament to his strength.

  Why had he surrendered? Surely he could’ve taken out the demon on the road.

  The guards searched me and relieved me of my weapons. We were led deep into the prison and soon entered the same cellblock Dude had infiltrated. Azazel was there to greet us with a victorious grin.

  “Well, if it isn’t Poor Richard himself,” he said, as if greeting an old friend.

  Old Ben only offered him a scowl.

  I searched for my sister but couldn’t see her. Many of the children were no longer being held in the cells. At least twenty stood in a large circle at the far end of the cellblock, around a green, smokeless bonfire. They chanted low, in the same harsh language the demons had spoken. They were all possessed, I realized.

  “Yes,” said Azazel, seemingly reading my mind. “Children of sin make such excellent hosts. Soon I will have legions.”

  “What do you want with Ben?” I asked.

  Old Ben glanced over at me. “Were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning, only asking the advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults in the first.”

  “What did you do?” I asked.

  Azazel laughed. “He sold his soul to save your precious country from my legions. The end should’ve come long ago, but I could not refuse such a tempting offer. With such a righteous host, my true form would have walked the earth. But he tricked me…sent me away, you might say. In death, he refused to pass on to the next realm and has roamed the earth a ghost all these long years…avoiding payment.”

  Ben turned from my gaze in shame.

  “Bring the priest to the circle!” Azazel’s voice echoed through the cellblock.

  A guard dragged the semiconscious Father Killroy out of one of the cells and shoved him to the ground. He’d been beaten badly but seemed to be himself.

  Azazel looked me up and down.

  “You’re not my type,” I said.

  He chuckled. “Oh, but you are mine.” He grinned in a way that made my skin crawl. “Through you, my true form shall come into the world, and the sky shall burn.”

  He nodded to a guard behind me and something struck the back of my head.

  I awoke to the same soft murmur of chanting children. My hands and feet were bound, and my head lay strapped to a table. The bonds were taut, but I managed to look around, somewhat. The children surrounded me, their lips red with the sin of their parents, and their eyes those of demons. The smokeless green fire blazed behind me, giving off no heat. To my left, Father Killroy was similarly strapped to a table.

  “How you holding up, son?” he asked.

  I strained against the tight strap across my forehead, trying to look around. “I’ve been worse.”

  “Really?” His wonder was genuine.

  “No,” I told him.

  He nodded and offered me a sympathetic smile. “Have faith, son—faith in the Lord.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “People with faith die every day, Father.”

  The children had been joined by the other demons in the chanting, and Azazel came into my field of vision with a long dagger in hand. The father of corruption touched his hands to my temples and shuddered.

  “Usually, I only have that effect on women,” I said.

  He laughed and released me. “We shall have fun together, you and I.”

  He turned, slit Father Killroy’s palm, and held it firm.

  The father only prayed throughout the entire affair.

  “Leave him alone! It’s me you want!”

  A demon came forward with a challis to catch the dripping blood. I noticed Old Ben behind them. He was at the center of a circle of demons, trapped by some sort of spell that surrounded him with swirling shadows.

  Azazel held up the cup. “The blood of a holy man…”

  The chanting grew louder, and the green flames shot to the ceiling. I clamped my mouth closed as the challis was pressed hard against my lips. Someone punched me in the side of the head. As the blood spilled down my chin, one of the demons pried open my mouth with a vise-like grip. I felt Father Killroy’s warm blood dribble across my tongue. Azazel pressed the cup harder until I had drunk it all. He threw it aside and bellowed an incantation I didn’t understand. Fire erupted in my belly and I heaved against the pain.

  “Ben, do something!” I screamed.

  He did nothing but stand there solemnly in the midst of the swirling black spells. My stomach churned and the blood seemed to boil within me. I tried desperately to formulate a spell but couldn’t focus. My strength was dwindling—I was losing control. My body began to feel like a shell, hollow and haunted by cold winds. All pain subsided and I slowly floated above myself.

  As Azazel bellowed his incantation, I began to see him in his true form—and was terrified. He loomed above me like a god, his spirit shining like a sun. Wings of flame burst to life as he finished, and I felt my soul being torn from my body, even as I tried desperately to hide inside my mortal shell.

  Suddenly the earth shook as an explosion rocked the prison and blew the wall at the other end of the cellblock inward. Kronos stomped inside, rattling off spells that lit the room in a multitude of lights.

  Azazel raised a hand and lightning shot forth, snaking its way across the cellblock, but my Russian master summoned a shield around himself. The white-hot bolts hit and exploded with blinding light.

  The hold on my soul weakened slightly, but I remained floating above my body. A second light flared, and Old Ben shone before the demon like a beacon in the dark of night. Apparently Kronos’s entry had disrupted whatever binding spell had kept the old ghost in place. He flew toward me as I struggled against the pull of Azazel and our spirits collided. Together w
e flew into my body.

  Through my eyes, I was spared the enormity of Azazel’s form, but remembered clearly the feeling. To behold the demon’s spirit was to understand the extent of my own insignificance.

  Though I was back in my body, it was Ben who was in control. My hands suddenly shot straight up, snapping the leather straps that held them, and my legs tore free as well. Power churned at my core, such that I thought I might burst into a million points of light. Azazel shot his hands out toward me, and mine came up to defend. White light shot from them as my voice came in a language I didn’t understand. Ben’s spell hit the wrath of Azazel and held it at bay. Like snakes of darkness and light, the two spells writhed and surged.

  The children had shifted their attention to the other side of the cellblock. My head followed them, and I saw Witch Solomon and Elder Wizard Maximillian engaging the Cain. Ben sent a surge of power through my arm, and Azazel was thrown back against the bars of a cell. He retaliated with a ball of fire that exploded against Ben’s quickly summoned shield.

  Azazel redoubled his efforts. His flames raged against the shield as if it were the nose of a space shuttle reentering the atmosphere. Ben summoned a massive amount of energy and lashed out with both arms. The flames winked out in an instant, and my eyes settled on the wall opposite me. Ben’s spell had blasted Azazel clear through. All that remained was a smoldering hole filled with dust and darkness. He was in there somewhere, and surely pissed.

  Mushiro came at us with his katana and Ben raised my hand, instantly halting him. My mentor’s spirit reached out of my chest and grabbed the demon within my friend, blasting it with white, piercing light. When it died out, the demon was gone, and Mushiro stood before me looking utterly confused. Ben turned to Father Killroy, and with a wave of my hand his bonds were broken.

  Killroy got to his feet and started spewing Latin like a holy auctioneer. His battle cross shot out of the smoke and found his steady grip. Armed, he turned his holy wrath on the Cain surrounding him.

  Maximillian and Solomon stood at the center of the cellblock, fending off the children, and I tried to find my sister among them.

  Mushi looked at me, lost. “What the hell is going on?”